Malegaon blast case: Lt Col sent to police custody

TERROR IN FATIGUES: It is indeed a serious matter if the army personnel use their powers for terror acts

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Mumbai: Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit has been sent to police custody till November 15 by a Nashik court.

The serving army officer was produced in the court on Wednesday by the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which claimed that he's directly involved in the September 29 Malegaon blast in which at least six people were killed.

The ATS counsel claimed that Lt Col Purohit gave at least four weapons to the other accused in the case who have already been arrested and added that the Lt Col transferred funds from various cities into accounts of other accused.

The court also approved ATS' request of conducting narco-analysis test on Lt Col Purohit.

However, Lt Col Purohit’s lawyer filed an application alleging illegal detention. He claimed that the Lt Col Purohit was taken into ATS custody on October 29.

The ATS has claimed that Lt Col Purohit has been arrested since he's a close associate of the arrested retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay and is said to have sent at least five SMSes to him.

An ATS source shared the SMSes exclusively with CNN-IBN.

The ATS has claimed that messages like 'the cat is out of the basket' were sent after ATS started zeroing in on sadhvi (female saint) Pragya Singh Thakur and her associates and 'Singh has sung' after the sadhvi was arrested.

Other SMSes said 'we are on the radar of ATS' and 'change the SIM card'. The Police also claim that they have evidence of Lt Col Purohit having attended a meeting with the sadhvi, retired Major Upadhyay and another accused Ramnarayan Singh who is absconding.

According to ATS this meeting transpired on September 16 on the grounds of Bhonsala Military School in Nashik.

The Centre aid it was a matter of "grave concern" that evidence collected pointed to the involvement of an Army officer in terror acts.

"It is a matter of grave concern that such a person (Lt Colonel) is found to be involved there. The investigating agencies arrest any person only after gathering sufficient evidence," Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi.

Jaiswal added that the police wouldn't detain army officers without proper evidence.