Malegaon case: Charges to be frame against Col Purohit

Nearly 10 years after a blast that shook the communally-sensitive powerloom town of Malegaon, charges will be framed against Indian Army officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant a stay on framing of charges against Purohit.

The charges would be framed on Wednesday before a special NIA court presided over by Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Padalkar.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice S S Shinde and Justice Mridula Bhatkar also said that matter pertaining to the validity of sanction for prosecution against Lt Col Purohit under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is to be decided by the trial court.

A former military intelligence (MI) official, Purohit is currently attached to the Colaba Military Station, Mumbai.

In August, 2017, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Purohit and subsequently, he was released from the Taloja prison in Raigad district.

He got his uniform back and is currently posted in Mumbai which comes under the Pune-headquartered Southern Command.

Purohit, the son of a bank employee, joined the Indian Army and was assigned to Maratha Light Infantry. Later, the Pune-born man was attached to the MI.

Purohit, who was serving in Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, was arrested on November 5, 2008, and has been charged with being one of the main conspirators of the September 29, 2008 blast.

He was in contact with members of Abhinav Bharat, an organisation formed in 2007 to propagate for a separate Hindu nation.

There are a total of 12 accused in the case which include Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur, Purohit and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey alias Swami Amrutanand Devtirth, self-proclaimed Shankaracharya.

They are the three main persons in the entire conspiracy.