Colonel Purohit's six-year stay in jail hospital to end?

Mumbai: The 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case accused Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit’s around six-year stay in a jail hospital may end soon as, following a complaint from a co-accused, the Taloja jail authorities have sought direction from a special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) court to shift Purohit from the medical cell to the high security Anda cell.

“The Taloja jail authorities have written to this court seeking direction to transfer Purohit from medical cell to the Anda cell and the prosecution would file its reply on next date of hearing,” said special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal.

Mr Rasal also said the documents produced before the court do not have details about the period for which Purohit was supposed to be kept at the medical facility, thought it it was mentioned in the original order. “However, it is yet to be confirmed who is responsible for this and it is a case of forgery or cheating,” added Mr Rasal.

It may be recalled that retired major Ramesh Upadhyay had alleged before the court that document (copy of court order) was forged to enable longer stay of Purohit in the jail hospital instead of jail and taking benefit of it, Purohit is staying in jail hospital for around seven years. Major Upadhyay made these allegations after procuring copies of certain documents under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

Following these allegations, the special judge Shripad Tekale had ordered an inquiry into the allegations and following this the Taloja jail authorities, on Thursday informed the special court that they acted as per order copy showed to them by Purohit. According to jail authorities, the order copy did not have the specific duration for which Purohit was supposed to be kept in the jail hospital.