Lt Colonel Purohit kept Army officials in loop while carrying out intelligence activities: Report

Lt Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit always kept senior officials in the loop while carrying out intelligence activities, as per a media report.

Delhi: Lt Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit had always kept senior officials in the loop while carrying out intelligence activities that included infiltration of groups like SIMI, Indian Mujahideen and Naxals, as per a media report.

As per court of enquiry papers issued to the Colonel and accessed by India Today, it validates Purohit's claims that he had always informed senior officials.

"These papers are in respect of the registration of the sources. And it proves that Purohit had kept the senior army officials in the loop about his intelligence activities," Neela Gokhale, Purohit's lawyer, was quoted as saying by the website.

The documents also has a letter from the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) appreciating Purohit, who has been in jail for eight years in connection with the Malegaon blasts of September 2008, for training ATS officers in infiltration skills.

Two explosions had ripped through Malegaon in Maharashtra in September 2008 killing seven people.

On April 19, it was reported that the NIA had said that there was no proof against Purohit in the Samjhauta blast case but investigation against him was underway in connection with the Malegaon blast case.

"There is no proof against him in Samjhauta blast case. He was never an accused. I wonder why his name is being linked to Samjhauta blast case," NIA Director General Sharad Kumar had told PTI.

He said Purohit had been chargesheeted by ATS Mumbai in Malegaon blasts in 2008 and NIA was carrying out further investigations in the matter.

The NIA has filed chargesheet against eight people in connection with Samjhauta blast case which includes Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Asimanand, Late Sunil Joshi alias Sunilji, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange (both absconding), Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan, Amit and Rajender Choudhary.

The case pertains to the criminal conspiracy which resulted in bomb blasts in the Attari Express (Samjhauta) train near Panipat, Haryana on February 18, 2007.

This blast and the consequent fire in the train coaches resulted in the loss of 68 lives and injuries to 12 train passengers including women and children travelling in the train.

Malegaon probe was initially conducted by Maharashtra ATS and later handed over to the NIA.

Besides Purohit, Pragya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu, Ramesh Upadhya, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay, Rakesh Dhawade, Jagdish Mhatre, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Pravin Takalki have been arrested.

Ramaji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, who are absconding accused in the Samjauta blast case, have also been chargesheeted in this case. 

On the other hand, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on April 21 that he had asked the Army to provide Purohit with all the documents he has sought to prove his innocence in the Malegaon blasts case, with paras inimical to national security redacted.

Maintaining that the matter was in court and he cannot decide on the merit of the case, Parrikar had said he had told the Army to give all information sought by Purohit.

"Except for words of people and names of countries, whatever document he wants, except when directly it impacts security of the nation or it involves names of some other officers, that can be blacked out, the info has to be given to him," Parrikar had told reporters.

He had said it should help Purohit prove his innocence based on what he is saying.

"The final decision has to be that of the Court," he had added.

Purohit had earlier this month written to Parrikar requesting restoration of his honour by way of rank.

In his letter dated April 4, he had claimed he has been falsely implicated in the case and has been behind the bars for more than seven years now.

"I have been robbed of honour, dignity and rank and punished for serving the nation," he had said.

Purohit had claimed he had infiltrated groups like SIMI and Naxals as a military intelligence operative and added that he had shared every detail of his operations with his seniors.

In November 2015 also, he had written to the Defence Minister requesting for copies of the Court of Inquiry against him by the Army.

He finally got copies of the CoI proceedings following court's intervention.

(With Agency inputs)