Haryana GRP to seek Purohit’s custody

The Haryana GRP will soon seek the custody of Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit in order to question him for his alleged role in the Samjhauta Express blast on February 18, reports Debasish Panigrahi.

The Haryana Government Railway Police (GRP) will soon seek the custody of Malegaon blast accused Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit in order to question him for his alleged role in the Samjhauta Express blast on February 18.

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Inspector General of Police (IGP), GRP, Haryana, KK Mishra told Hindustan Times on Sunday that “We will shortly be making an application in the court (railway court) so that as soon as the ATS (Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad) is through with their probe, we will take Purohit into our custody for investigation.”

Mishra said Purohit’s custodial interrogation had become important, as the ATS has claimed that the army officer had supplied RDX that is said to be used in the train blast. “This is an entirely new development. The focus of our probe had centered on the possible links of Islamic terror groups, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to be particular, in the blast. But Purohit’s alleged links has given a new dimension to the probe,” he said, adding “unless we question him, we can not be sure of the ATS’ claims.”

To the ATS’ reported claims that Purohit had handed over the RDX to a person named Bhagwan, who had used the explosives in the train bombs, Mishra said, “We have heard this name for the first time.” However, Mishra confirmed that traces of RDX had been found during the chemical analysis of the explosive residues found at the Samjhauta blasts site.