Who is Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit? Malegaon blast accused acquitted after 17 years
Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit was arrested for allegedly masterminding the blasts in 2008 and spent nearly nine years in jail before being granted bail in 2017.
An NIA special court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, in the 2008 Malegaon blasts in one of the country's longest-running terror cases.
The Mumbai court acquitted the seven accused saying that the prosecution failed to establish the allegations against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
Purohit was arrested for allegedly masterminding the blasts in 2008 and spent nearly nine years in jail before being granted bail in 2017.
Here is all you need to know about Prasad Purohit:
⦁ Lt Col Prasad Purohit was arrested by ATS in November 2008 for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy of the Malegaon blast.
⦁ The ATS files charge-sheet against 11 arrested accused, including Purohit, on January 20, 2009 before special court. He was allegedly made the mastermind of the bomb blast case.
⦁ It was alleged that Lt Col Prasad Purohit had sourced RDX from Jammu and Kashmir and assembled the bomb at his residence.
⦁ Lt Colonel Purohit had claimed earlier this year that he was tortured by Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officers and was forced into taking the name of senior BJP and RSS leaders, including Yogi Adityanath.
⦁ Though the Bombay High Court in 2017 granted bail to Pragya Thakur, his bail plea was rejected. He finally got bail in September 2017 from the Supreme Court.
⦁ The court on Thursday, while speaking on the charges against him, said there was insufficient evidence to prove his direct involvement or conspiracy in the blast.
⦁ Reacting to his acquittal, Purohit said, "I am a soldier who loves this country immensely. The country must always remain supreme and its foundations strong."
A total of 7 people were made accused in the Malegaon blast case, including former MP Sadhvi Pragya, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhankar Dhar Dwivedi (Shankaracharya) and Sameer Kulkarni.
Special NIA Judge AK Lahoti acquitted all the seven accused noting there was no "cogent and reliable" evidence to warrant conviction.
