Terror blasts accused gets pay from Indian Army

Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit

Rahul Singh.

Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, who was allegedly involved in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts and is currently lodged in a Maharashtra jail, continues to draw his pay and allowances from the army, despite serious terror charges against him.

According to information revealed under the RTI Act, Purohit “is in full receipt of pay and allowances till date.”

The reply said the principal controller of Defence Accounts in Pune has not received any communication regarding the “judiciary matters” concerning Purohit for further action relating to pay and allowances.

The NIA has sought Purohit’s custodial interrogation but the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.

After Purohit was arrested in November 2008, the army had ordered a court of inquiry which recommended that the officer be dismissed from service.

But Purohit, a military intelligence officer, challenged the findings of the probe in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), claiming the key witnesses had been examined in his absence and he wasn’t given the chance to cross-examine them.

The AFT directed the army to conduct a fresh probe. Army sources said the second inquiry had been completed and the report had been sent to the defence ministry.

“Purohit remains a serving army officer till the time he is not dismissed. Serving officers are entitled to full pays,” a senior officer said.

via Hindustan Times.

Malegaon blast: SC rejects interim bail for Colonel Purohit

Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

The Military Intelligence officer is facing two separate trials, one is being handled by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the other one is Army’s Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the matter.

Earlier in June this year, the Malegaon blast accused had said he had “infiltrated” the Hindu radical outfit Abhinav Bharat and did his job properly and also kept his bosses in the loop.

In 2008, a bomb exploded on a Friday evening near a mosque in the town of Malegaon, killing six people. One month later, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) in Maharashtra said a group of Hindu right-wing radicals was to blame. Lt Col Purohit, who was posted in Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, and was undergoing an Arabic Language course, was accused and arrested.

The Army, without conducting an immediate court of inquiry, handed him over to the ATS. Later, it did order a court of inquiry but did not allow Lt Col Purohit to cross-examine witnesses.

More than 50 army personnel have testified so far that the Army may have wrongly handed over Lt Col Purohit to the ATS without conducting its own investigation.

-via Daily Bhaskar

Lt. Col Purohit: Acts of terror and finding escape route

Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit

Ram Puniyani.

In the wake of the various acts of terror and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s motor cycle being traced, it became clear that the investigating agencies are acting on the wrong thesis that ‘all terrorists are Muslims’. A Pandora’s box opened and the link of ex-ABVP activist, Pragya Thakur, Swami Dayanand Pandey, retired Major Upadhayay, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Swami Aseemanand came to surface, Role of two organizations inspired by the ideology of ‘Hindu nation’, Abhinav Bharat and Santana Sanstha also came to light. The investigations led by Hemant Karkare, by the Rajasthan ATS and National Investigation Agency (NIA) made it clear that there is a deeper nexus of elements like Purohit &Co., those who have been part of terror groups or have been supporting them in various ways. The confessions of Swami Aseemanand, named many more activists belonging to RSS combine, who are currently cooling their heels in jails and are facing investigations for acts of terror.

Lt. Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit came to be identified as one of the major player in the whole episode. He is the core person of extremist Hindutva group Abhinav Bharat. He was arrested on 5th November 2008 by Maharashtra ATS for his role in Malegaon blast. It was the investigation of Malegaon blast, particularly under the leadership of Hemant Karkare, which unearthed the whole terror network, which later on came to be termed as Saffron terror by P.Chidmabaram, the Union Home minister. For Purohit and other army officers, the army instituted a court of inquiry.

During the inquiry what Col Purohit said is very revealing. Purohit claimed that he was part of the network as an infiltrator and was keeping his superiors in the loop, keeping them informed. He claims that he infiltrated the terror network to keep a tab on the same. But his statement leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The major question is if he was doing all this for army, why did army hand him over to Anti Terrorism Squad?

The whole investigation seems to be mired in mystery and lots of facts need a further probe. Tehelka had also published investigative reports naming several ex-military men from the Bhosala Military School and their involvement in the Malegaon and other blasts, which was later confirmed by the ATS. The involvement of other army officers needs to be brought to surface as the whole matter seems to be much serious than just a case of few officers keeping a tab of these terrorist groups.

The blasts taking place in front of mosques and similar places where Muslims congregate for prayers, at the time when they are leaving the congregation was a clear indication of involvement of ‘other’ groups than the usual suspects, in which many a Muslim youth had been arrested and later released due to lack of any evidence whatsoever.

In the light of many a military officers role in these acts, it did not therefore, come as a surprise that Mohan Bhagwat, RSS Chief used the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Bhosala Military school (BMS) say that “military schools run under the aegis of Hindutva institutions are the need of the hour,”.

Looking at the key role played by Bhosala Military School, which is run by a group of people whose sympathies with the RSS is no secret, one fails to understand why the chief bosses of the school were not investigated for their role in the acts of terror? Very few people even know that BMS is one of those rare schools who impart training on service pattern to the students along with regular courses which is aimed at encouraging and preparing them for entry into National Defense Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA) etc and other defense services.

Bhosala Military School has a long history. It was set up by Dr. B.S. Munje, the mentor of RSS Sarsanghclak, Dr. K.B. Hedgewar. Dr. Munje was inspired by Benito Mussolini’s fascist methods and believed that one who controls army rules the country. His statue in the Nagpur, where RSS was founded, has this phrase written on the plaque. With this perspective in mind this school was set up to act as a feeder for Indian army. The school was set up with the assistance of British and it supplied officers to the British army. Its training is meant to supply officers for Indian army. Now it emerges from different confessions and statements that the groups involved in terror had deeper connection with this school. What ideology it teaches and what it aims is very clear from some of the statements of the accused.

The phenomenon of Hindutva terror allegedly revolves around the likes of Lt. Col Purohit and Swami Aseemanand of RSS to name the two central characters. After Swami Aseemanand’s confession the total picture and their agenda becomes clear. Aseemanand had said that ‘bomb is the answer to bomb’. He also wanted to pave the way for the goal of Hindu nation through such terror outfits and their goal was larger than just a blast here and a blast there, they aimed at Hindu nation. Purohit in his statements during interrogation has said that their effort was to fight the Indian Constitution for (Hindu) Nation, “We will fight the Constitution to fight for our nation.” The RSS propaganda that Hindu religion is in danger and it needs to be defended was also stated by Purohit. He also says “many things are wrong in the country and need to be rectified. Hindu religion is in danger. It is our duty to defend Hinduism.” And finally “We have to establish this country in accordance with the Vedic procedures; we want the Sanatan Dharma, the Vedic Dharma.”

The Purohit affair is getting murkier and murkier. The agenda of Hindu nation, the role of Bhosala military school and other army officers in the whole chain of command cannot be accepted at the face value. It needs a deeper probe and investigation of the whole terror network and the role of army officers, as it is clear that Col Purohit’s statement that he was keeping other army officers in the loop for an operation which was not the part of the army intelligence work, is a matter of worry. The role played by Bhosla Military School also needs to be probed. The ideology which such people are harboring to fight Indian Constitution to build Hindu nation is a clear danger to our Constitution, the democratic values and the plural character of the country. How does one save the values of India’s Constitution, the values of India’s freedom movement?

Ram Puniyani was a professor in biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and took voluntary retirement in December 2004 to work full time for communal harmony in India. He is involved with human rights activities from last two decades.He is associated with various secular and democratic initiatives like All India Secular Forum, Center for Study of Society and Secularism and ANHAD.

-via Counter Currents

Colonel and the labyrinth

Syed Nazakat.

After two years of investigation and several arrests, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) has concluded that the Samjhauta Express attack in 2007 was the result of a well-thought out plan hatched at least two years before and the four terrorists who planted the bombs on the train belonged to the group Abhinav Bharat. It had allegedly carried out bomb blasts in other parts of the country, too. The bomb blast on the Indo-Pak transborder train killed 68 passengers, mostly Pakistani civilians.

The NIA’s investigation becomes crucial as it confirms that a serving officer and some retired army officers were associated with the right-wing Abhinav Bharat, and that they attended its meetings regularly in which the youth was motivated to take up arms against ‘Islamist terrorism’. “It [Samjhauta attack] was part of a larger conspiracy,” said an NIA officer. “We are establishing the strength of Abhinav Bharat. There is enough evidence with us to prosecute the culprits.” The officer said the agency would submit its supplementary, and perhaps the final, charge-sheet soon.

While the NIA may have successfully cracked the Samjhauta case, it is yet to nail Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, the first Army officer to be arrested on charge of terrorism. Purohit, a Military Intelligence officer, was arrested in 2008 on charges of conspiracy in the Malegaon terrorist attack. According to Maharashtra’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), while Sadhvi Pragya Singh—another member of Abhinav Bharat—arranged men to plant the explosives, Purohit provided the explosives.

Purohit, however, has told the Army’s Court of Inquiry (CoI) that he had penetrated Abhinav Bharat to gain intelligence and that he had kept his bosses in the loop. He claimed that he was tortured and forced to confess his role in different terrorist activities. The NIA may find it tough to prove his involvement, because evidence against Purohit was collected by Maharashtra ATS and listed in its charge-sheet. This is unlikely to hold water particularly after many senior officers deposed in favour of Purohit in the CoI. Though he is accused of stealing 60 kg RDX from the Army depot in Jammu and Kashmir and passing it on to the bomb planters, the trail is yet to be established.

But, for the first time, the NIA identified the four men who planted bombs on the train. Of these Kamal Chauhan and Lokesh Sharma have been arrested while Ramji alias Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange are still at large. The NIA has announced a reward of 010 lakh for information on Ramji and Sandeep. According to an NIA officer, the accused were members of Abhinav Bharat and had received arms training at Karni Singh shooting range in Faridabad (Haryana) and Bagli in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh). The bomb planters were divided into two teams, two members each. Each member planted one IED. All four belong to Madhya Pradesh and were allegedly associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Kamal Chauhan, who was arrested on February 14, 2012, from Noida, provided details about the sequence of events and the role played by each person in the attack. His confession also unravelled how the group led by Swami Aseemanand plotted the attacks on Samjhauta and how the men were trained to carry out the attacks and how the outfit’s top operative, Sunil Joshi, was killed to destroy evidence. Aseemanand, arrested in 2010, admitted that the terrorist attacks in Malegaon in 2006 and 2008, in Ajmer Sharif in 2007 and Mecca Masjid in 2007 were carried out by them as they wanted to answer every terror act committed by Muslims with a ‘bomb for bomb’ policy. Later, he retracted his statement. That had complicated the NIA’s case. Added to it, the agency failed to file any charge-sheet against Lokesh Sharma in the stipulated time, allowing him to walk out on bail.

-via The Week

Why Lt Col Purohit’s case may have the Army searching for cover

Nitin Gokhale & Shamik Ghosh.

After a court of inquiry conducted in Mumbai, the Army has to decide whether there are enough grounds to dismiss Lt Col Prasad Purohit, who is in Taloja Jail, near Navi Mumbai. For the Army, the case is full of grey areas. Lt Col Purohit has been charged by Maharashtra’s Anti-Terror Squad of belonging to extreme right-wing extremist group Abhinav Bharat, which allegedly planted a bomb in the state’s Malegaon town in September 2008, killing six people.

Lt Col Purohit has always claimed that he had kept his bosses in the loop on every intelligence operation that he undertook including infiltrating into the fledgling Abhinav Bharat.

Lt Col Purohit says he infiltrated the group because that was his job as a Military Intelligence officer.

The Army says that’s not correct. But there are documents that show that Lt Col Purohit had earlier shared close ties with the Students Islamic Movement of India or SIMI, banned in 2001 as a terrorist organisation. An Annual Confidential Report (ACR)in NDTV’s possession has a senior officer praising Lt Col Purohit. “The officer has infiltrated the SIMI and other underground outfits in the region through his capabilities and go-getter attitude.

Dependable, Lt Col Purohit is a good team player.” A year later, a similar report said, “…with the basic knowledge of Arabic language and Islamic culture, he provided valuable int (intelligence) on Tabliq-e-Jamat and MFO (Muslim Fundamentalist Organisations) which was well appreciated by the environment….”

The Army has, however, refused to respond to NDTV’s queries on these reports, raising this question: Does the Army go beyond its mandate in keeping under-cover tabs on organisations even in non-combat areas?

Lt. Gen RK Sawhney (retd), a former DG of Military Intelligence puts it in perspective: “Basically only in insurgency areas, Army goes ahead and does this job. There are not very clear cut rules .. there are grey areas when deployed in peace areas but if a piece of intelligence is available there are ways to share it and coordinate with other agencies.”

The Army will have to explain that while Lt Col Purohit’s infiltration of organisations like SIMI was officially recognised, how did his activities in fraternising with right-wing groups go unnoticed?

-via NDTV

Malegaon blast: SC extends stay on NIA questioning of Lt Colonel Purohit

Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit

The Supreme Court today stayed for three more weeks the Bombay High Court order allowing the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to interrogate the 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi in its custody.

Purohit had approached the apex court against the high court’s October 20 order which had dismissed his petition against the decision of the trial court allowing NIA take him from the judicial custody to interrogate him.

However, the high court had stayed its order for eight weeks till December 20 to enable him to seek redressal before the apex court.

A bench comprising Justice HL Dattu and Justice CK Prasad sought responses from NIA, the Centre and Maharashtra government on the petition filed by Purohit challenging the High Court order which had upheld the order of the MCOCA court.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on January 4 after advocate UU Lalit and Neela Gokhale, appearing for Purohit, submitted the order allowing custodial interrogation was wrong as he was sent to judicial custody after the probe in the case was complete.

The bench also issued notices to NIA and others on Purohit’s seeking bail in the case.

Another accused in the case, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi, also challenged the order of the High Court and the trial court allowing NIA to take him from judicial custody for his custodial interrogation.

Dwivedi’s case was argued by UR Lalit and Manoj Prasad and they also took the same ground as taken by Purohit to assail the orders of the High Court and the trial court.

-via DNA.

Purohit team targeted Muslims as well as Christians: Army

Military Intelligence after interrogating Lt Colonel Purohit has in its report said that not only Muslims, but also Christians were the targets of Purohit team. According to the report, Abhinav Bharat targeted Christians at Kandhamal in Orissa, Karnataka, Pune, Jabalpur and Bhopal. Purohit’s key aide Sameer Kulkarni is alleged to have killed two Christians in Orissa in the year 2008.

According to the army report, Pragya confronted Purohit during their joint questioning by the Military Intelligence, Maharashtra ATS and IB on 30 October, 2008 at Khandala. The report said, “She mentioned that the Army officer had met her on 5 October 2008, and confessed to have orchestrated the Malegoan blast, killing of two persons in Orissa in August 2008, and arson in North Karnataka. The officer admitted to having made such statements to Sadhvi Pragya but attributed these outbursts to his boasting about the Malegaon incident. Later, during the same confrontation, he admitted that this outfit had killed two persons in Orissa through Sameer Kulkarni, a full-time activist of Abhinav Bharat.” This was reported by the Indian Express on 29 January 2011.

The MI report further said, “Responsible for covert operations, the RSS activist Sameer Kulkarni was instrumental in breaking influential RSS and VHP workers towards Abhinav Bharat. He is known to be associated with the core group which had undertaken the IED blast in Ajmer in 2007. In March 2008, he accompanied Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange to Purohit’s residence in Panchmarhi. Police records confirmed his involvement in anti-Christian riots in Pune, Jabalpur and Bhopal. Lt Col Purohit admitted that, on behalf of Abhinav Bharat, Sameer killed two Christians in Orissa in August 2008. This act indicated that Lt Col Purohit wanted to establish an organisation with aggressive anti-Christian stance.”

The important findings of the MI report are: 1. Rakesh Dhavde was instructed by Purohit to supply RDX to Ramji Kalsangra and Dange in August 2008. 2. Dhavde received seven rounds of 9-mm service ammunition from Purohit, who had taken it out from Army units in Devlali. 3. Purohit illegally sold his 7.62-mm pistol to Atul Chandrakant Potnis, a Pune dealer. 4. A 32 mm Lama pistol was received by Purohit through Lt Col (retd) Shailesh Raikar, to be sold in Pune. 5. Purohit had a Webley & Scott revolver purchased from Potnis.

-via Milli Gazette

Who is Shrikant Purohit?

Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit

NDTV Correspondent.

His arrest two-and-a-half years ago shook the foundation of what has been one of India’s most secular institutions, the Indian Army. Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit was accused of conspiracy for terror and murder, the first time that an Armyman had been booked for a terror act.

An aberration, said Armymen. Others shook their heads in disbelief.

Neighbours said they knew Prasad Purohit as a soft-spoken man and superiors in the Army remembered a bright, hard-working recruit. In all conversations with people who knew or had interacted with Purohit, a common picture drawn was of a zealous young man with a marked patriotic fervor.

Purohit belongs to a cultured, middle-class Maharashtrian Brahmin family. The son of a bank officer, he was born in Pune and got his education from the Abhinav Vidyalaya and Garware College there.

In 1994, Purohit was commissioned into the Maratha Light Infantry after passing out of the Officers’ Training Academy at Chennai. He was serving in Jammu and Kashmir when he fell ill and was medically downgraded. At that time he was shifted to Military Intelligence.

Between 2002 and early 2005, Purohit was part of very important counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir as part of MI-25 or the Intelligence Field Security Unit. The MI-25 is tasked with looking at the enemy along the border.

It was when Purohit was posted at Deolali near Nashik in Maharashtra as a liaison unit officer when he allegedly came in contact with Ramesh Upadhyay, a retired Major. Upadhyay allegedly set up Abhinav Bharat, an extreme Hindutva group, that Purohit reportedly became a part of. Upadhyay too is in jail in the Malegaon case.

Purohit was later accused of having stolen 60 kg of RDX from the Army – some of which was allegedly used in the Malegaon blast. He was also charged with funding and training Hindu extremist groups like Abhinav Bharat, which was believed to have planned and executed the Malegaon blast.

The Lt Col was stationed at the Army Education Corps Training College and Centre at Panchmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, where he was learning Arabic, when the police allegedly found and decoded some SMSes that he sent out to Upadyay after the Malegaon blasts. He was interrogated, arrested in the Malegaon blast case in late 2008 and has been in jail since.

Six people died and many were injured in the September 29, 2008 in the communally-sensitive textile town of Malegaon. A bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded after Friday prayers had ended at a mosque.

Soon after Purohit’s arrest, the Army ordered a Court of Inquiry that later recommended Purohit’s dismissal from service. Last year, Purohit filed an appeal in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) seeking that the Court of Inquiry proceedings be quashed as the Army Act 180 had been violated. Purohit contended that some key witnesses had been examined without him being present or being given the chance of cross-examining them.

He says he has been victimized by military intelligence officials. In a statutory complaint sent to the then Army chief in 2009, Purohit had claimed that he was never involved with Hindu extremists and that he was falsely implicated by a fellow officer, illegally detained and tortured.

Purohit has drawn the AFT’s attention to the fact that almost a fortnight before his arrest, he had alerted Military Intelligence about the activities of Hindu radicals in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, on the basis of information he had gathered during his tenure Deolali.

-via NDTV

Army asked to reprobe against Colonel Purohit

Colonel Prasad Purohit

Gautam Datt.

The Army has been asked to conduct a fresh Court of Inquiry (CoI) against Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, one of the main accused in the Malegaon blast case, by the armed forces tribunal as it found irregularities in the initial probe.

The first CoI, completed in September last year, had recommended dismissal of Lieutenant Colonel Purohit from service for his alleged involvement in the terror plot.

Army had presented facts related to the CoI before the tribunal after which it was asked to reconvene the probe.

Justice S S Kulshreshtha of armed forces tribunal held that Army had examined some witnesses in absence of Purohit in violation of Army Rule 180 as the accused could not cross examine them.

“The Court of Inquiry suffers from the vice of irregularity…. It would be just and proper to direct the Army to further convene the CoI from the state when the statements of the witnesses were recorded on September 1, 2010 in absence of Purohit,” said the tribunal.

The findings of CoI were challenged by Purohit who cited violation of Army rule 180.

He had even complained that he was given extreme inhuman treatment and also named a Colonel R K Srivastava as the officer who subjected him to torture.

Purohit has been named as one of the main accused in the Malegaon case chargesheet along with swami Dayanand Pandey, sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and another Army officer major Ramesh Upadhyay.

They have been booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The CoI had found merit in the allegations on the basis of which his termination was recommended. T he Army had forwarded the recommendation to its legal branch for opinion.

Purohit, posted in Nasik, was alleged to be part of a group called Abhinav Bharat which carried out attack in Malegaon in 2006 killing seven persons. The CoI had also gone into Purohit’s links with other Army officers and whether they were aware about his activities.

-via Indian Express

Colonel Purohit’s letter indicts Indresh, Sadhvi Pragya

Colonel Prasad Purohit

Aariz Chandra.

A letter written by Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Srikant Purohit to the army intelligence has revealed the involvement of senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the attack. The question is if Purohit was blowing the whistle on the right-wing extremism or it was a ploy to cover his own tracks.

“The blasts which took place in Gujarat and Malegaon are on the same day and same time using the same technique. I had learnt that it is Mr Indresh Kumar of the RSS, who is instrumental in carrying out these actions.”

This damning disclosure has been made by LT Col Purohit before the court of enquiry initiated against him after his arrest in the Malegaon blast case of 2008. Interestingly, Purohit had shared inputs with his seniors before his arrest in the case.

The hand-written letter dated October 15, 2008 submitted by Lt Col Purohit before the court of enquiry has been accessed by Headlines Today.

In his letter, the Lt Colonel not only accuses Indresh Kumar as conspirator in the Malegaon and Ajmer blasts, he also talks about Sadhvi Pragya’s alleged role in these blasts.

Another person is a lady Pradnya Singh, originally resident of Murana or Bhind.

The vehicle used in the Malegaon bomb blast was assembled from three different vehicles, one of which was ‘Bajaj Freedom’ registered in Pradnya Singh’s name.

It was utilized by Pracharak (Sunil) Joshi before he got killed and the vehicle’s registration is from Surat in Gujarat.

Lt Colonel Purohit’s letter was addressed to Major Bhagirath Dey, who at the time was posted as Intelligence officer at Jabalpur CCLU.

“I was undergoing a special Chinese refresher course at Panchmarhi Army Educational Corps Training college from July 14, 2008 to Oct 4, 2008. During that course I met Lt Col Purohit,” says Dey.

“Around the second week of October 2008, I received a call from Lt Col Purohit. He had some information which he said he could not share on telephone. On October 15, 2008 I sent Havaldar to meet Lt Col Purohit and he came back with a letter. The letter contained some vague information regarding one RSS leader Indresh Kumar and a lady called Pragya Singh,” Dey added.

RSS big wig Indresh Kumar’s name has already figured in the chargesheet filed by the Rajasthan ATS in the Ajmer blast case. Not just this, Indresh has also been questioned in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad. Will the anti-terrorism squad bother to question him on this damning disclosure by Col Purohit?

-via India Today