India, April 24 -- The diametrically opposite "stories" put forth by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) "lead nowhere", and the witnesses proposed by the NIA were "mostly hearsay witnesses," the Bombay High Court observed in its order discharging the four accused arrested by the federal agency in the September 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case.

While the court discharged the four accused on Wednesday, the judges' observations were made in a detailed order, which became available on Thursday.

The division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Shyam C Chandak said the trial NIA court should not have discarded the ATS case merely on the basis of the charge-sheets subsequent...