Mumbai: Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast, has said the Army needs to take a call on whether or not to pursue his allegations of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) planting RDX to incriminate him.
Speaking to The Asian Age when he was brought to the session’s court on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Purohit said he wanted to don the uniform once again.
The Supreme Court had granted bail to Lt. Col. Purohit on surety of Rs 1 lakh and also directed him to furnish sureties.
However, on Tuesday the court granted him interim bail on furnishing Rs 2 lakh. The formalities of furnishing sureties for his regular bail would be completed within a week or two.
Lt. Col. Purohit said his topmost priority after his release from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai is to head straight to his home in Pune and meet his mother and other family members. “I will eat food with my mom. It’s been nine years since I sat with the family for a meal,” he said.
Purohit has two sons. While the elder one is studying engineering, the younger son — who is 12 years old — wants to join army and Lt. Col. Purohit wants him to join the infantry like him.
Expressing a desire to wear his uniform again, Lt. Col. Purohit said, “I want to wear my uniform; it is outermost layer of my skin.”
He added that he would come to know where he would be posted only after reporting to his unit, as he had not received any communication from the Army since his arrest.
Lt. Col. Purohit has around 12 years more to serve in the Indian Army before he reaches his age of retirement.
Asked whether he would initiate action against the ATS officers whom he had claimed planted RDX to incriminate him, he said, “I am not an individual. I am part of an organisation. If the Army finds it proper, it will take appropriate steps in this regard.” He added that he has faith in himself, in his command and commanders and ‘everyone will take care at their own stage’.
Replying to question on his jail sentence, he said, “I blame none. I blame my destiny.” “The Army is the only institution in the country that is not shaken by the ripples of what is happening in society,” he said, adding, “The Army did not let me down. Not once did I feel I was out of the Army.”
