Malegaon blast: Cops set to arrest serving Lt-Col

Malegaon blast: Cops set to arrest serving Lt-Col

5 Nov 2008, 0120 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Mumbai's anti-terrorism squad on Tuesday looked set to take custody of Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, the founding member of Abhinav Bharat, the right-wing radical Hindu radical outfit whose members allegedly carried out the bomb attack in Malegaon on September 29. This would be the first case of a serving army officer being taken into police custody in connection with such charges. The Mumbai ATS approached the army authorities on Tuesday for Purohit's custody after the interrogation of members of Abhinav Bharat detained in connection with the Malegaon blast pointed to his key role in founding the Pune-based organization as well as in finding recruits for it from among right-wing Hindu outfits. Although there is nothing yet to confirm the officer's complicity in the Malegaon attack—which, police allege, was designed as a retaliatory act for the spate of bomb blasts engineered by jehadi terrorists in cities across the country, police claim to have established links between Purohit and Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, a suspect in the blast case, in the form of at least five SMSes sent by the Lt-Col after the Malegaon blast. In one such SMS, Purohit instructed Upadhyay to change his mobile number. The ATS have submitted all the five SMSes in the Nashik court. These SMSes, said the source, were handed over to the military top officials who allowed the ATS to ''interact'' with Purohit in connection with the Malegaon bomb blast. Purohit, said the police, had also attended one of the meetings conducted by the arrested accused in Nashik prior to the blast. Army sources in New Delhi confirmed the development saying that the formalities regarding the handing over of Purohit were expected to be over soon.

Purohit, whose family is from Pune, is with the Intelligence Corps. He was doing a course in Arabic at the Army Education Corps College in Pachmarhi when army authorities, at the instance of the ATS, relocated him to Mumbai to 'facilitate' the investigation into the Malegaon blast.

Purohit came into contact with Upadhyay when he was posted at Nashik as a liaison unit officer. His role required him to interact with organisations, including ex-servicemen in the region. However, the probe by the ATS has, according to sources, shown that he used the Nashik stint to fraternise with the extremists in various right-wing Hindu outfits and to draw them into the Abhinav Bharat fold.

The Malegaon probe has also shown that Sunil Joshi, to whom Sadhvi Pragya had given her LML Freedom motorcycle that was subsequently used in the Malegaon blast, was killed by suspected SIMI activists at Devas in Madhya Pradesh in December last year. The vehicle subsequently passed on to Ramji, who used it to trigger the attack in the weavers' town last month.

Lt-Col was at meet held by Malegaon accused

Army sources in New Delhi confirmed the arrest of Lieutenant-Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, founding member of Abhinav Bharat. Purohit, said the police, had also attended one of the meetings conducted by the arrested accused in Nashik prior to the blast.


Sadhvi Pragnya's motorcycle was sold to Sunil Joshi, who was killed by SIMI. Under what circumstances was he killed? How has the charge of his killing come upon SIMI? How did Sunil Joshi's the motorcycle get into the hands of Ramji? Did SIMI use the motorcycle in its plot to incriminate Hindus in Malegaon blast? The circumstances of Sunil Joshi's killing holds the key to the conspiracy.