Malegaon blast case: Prasad Purohit promoted to Colonel after acquittal

The Indian Army officer, acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon case, received a grand welcome in Pune and expressed gratitude for being able to continue serving the nation with conviction and integrity.

Mumbai: Indian Army officer Prasad Purohit — who was acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case — has been promoted to the rank of Colonel.

“A few days ago, Purohit, who was a Lieutenant Colonel, was promoted to Colonel,” highly placed sources in the military establishment told DH on Thursday.

Union Textile Minister Giriraj Singh, in a message on X, posted a photo of the piping ceremony and said: “Congratulations Col Purohit on being back in uniform. The government stands firmly with patriots who serve the nation with courage and integrity.”

Son of a bank officer, the Pune-born Col Purohit hails from a Maharashtrian-Brahmin family. He completed his education at Abhinav School on Law College Road and graduated from Garware College.

He was selected for the Officers’ Training Academy in Chennai and, after passing out, was commissioned into the Maratha Light Infantry in 1994.

Between 2002 and 2005, he served in the counter-terrorism operations unit in Jammu and Kashmir and later moved to Military Intelligence, posted in Nashik.

At the time of his arrest, he was studying Arabic at the Army Education Centre in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh.

The arrest followed the Navratri-eve blast on 29 September 2008, coinciding with the month of Ramzan, just two days before Eid. The explosion claimed six lives and injured 101 others in Malegaon, Nashik district, nearly 300 km from Mumbai. Purohit, then a Lt Col, was taken into custody by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Later, the case was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Initially, Col Purohit was booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), but charges were later dropped and he was tried under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He was arrested on 4–5 November 2008 and subsequently placed under suspension.

On 21 August 2017, the Supreme Court granted him bail, after which he was attached to the Southern Command’s Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa (MG&G) Area.

Col Purohit is slated to retire next year at 54, the retirement age for Lt Cols and Cols.

On 31 June 2025, NIA Court Special Judge Abhay Lahoti acquitted all seven accused, including Col Purohit, former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur (alias Swami Purnachetanand Giri), Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi (alias Dayanand Pandey/Swami Amrutanand Devtirth), self-proclaimed Shankaracharya Maj Ramesh Upadhyaya (Retd), Sameer Kulkarni (alias Chanakya Sameer), Ajay (alias Raja Rahirkar) and Sudhakar Onkarnath Chaturvedi (alias Chanakya Sudhakar), for “lack of evidence”.

After his acquittal, Col Purohit said: “The nation is everything…I thank you for giving me a chance to serve my nation and my organisation with the same conviction I had before being framed in this matter. I thank all my friends and colleagues.”

Family members of the victims have challenged the acquittal in the Bombay High Court.

Upon returning home to Law College Road, Pune, Col Purohit and his wife Aparna received a grand welcome. He said: “This is where I was born and brought up... If you see some good qualities in me, it is because of the culture of this society. It is because of the decision of the honourable court that I am here. I am overwhelmed by the welcome I have received… It all depends on destiny, and I am a forward-looking person. I am grateful.”