Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, has finally come out and spoken about being subjected to nine years of custodial torture, after recently being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, as per a report by CNN News-18.
The news channel has allegedly accessed a video in which Col Purohit is seen speaking to a fellow officer during a medical check up, a few months prior to his bail grant.
As per the report, Col Purohit said:
First, they beat me for 5-7 days. Then, they left me alone for two days so that the swelling subsided.
Col Purohit added that he was “thrashed again for 8-9 days”.
On 4 November 2008, Col Purohit became the first Army officer to be arrested on charges of terrorism. He was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly conspiring in the 2008 Malegaon blasts that led to the death of at least 8 and injured nearly 80 people.
Col Purohit had claimed in a report by The Hindu that he was caught in “political crossfire” and was imprisoned for nine years without charges being framed against him. His earlier bail plea had been turned down by the Bombay High Court.
In the tell-all video accessed by CNN News-18, Purohit claims that he was repeatedly thrashed in jail despite the authorities being well aware that his leg was broken.
While the initial medical report by JJ Hospital did not reveal torture, Col Purohit claims that, “when I got a court order and got more tests done, it was proved that I was tortured.”
According to the disgraced Army officer, he was treated worse than a terrorist by the ATS.
Col Purohit was seen telling his fellow officer in the video:
You remember how we dealt with those three people who had crossed the border? There is a proper way to interrogate terror suspects.
Col Purohit also alleged that the ATS derived pleasure out of thrashing an army officer. He says, as per the report by CNN News-18:
They wanted to have fun at my expense. God help any army officer who gets picked up by police.
According to the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) charge sheet in the 2008 Malegaon blast case:
Purohit was also accused of floating an organisation by the name of Abhinav Bharat in year 2007 with the intention to propagate a separate Hindu Rashtra with their own constitution with the intent to threaten unity, integrity and security of India.
Further, he was accused of stealing 60 Kg of RDX from the Army, as per the CNN News-18 report.
All such claims have been denied by Col Purohit who has said that the bags of army personnel are checked thoroughly before they even step into their own cars.
(With inputs from CNN News-18, The Hindu, HT)
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