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Journalism of Courage
Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, one of the seven Malegaon blast accused who were acquitted on Thursday, thanked the judiciary as well as his lawyers, including Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, who he said appeared for him in the case without taking any fee.
Speaking to The Indian Express on the phone from Mumbai, Lt Col Purohit said, “I am choosing not to talk specifics about the past 17 years and the case. But I want to say that I am thankful to the judiciary and to all my lawyers.
“All the lawyers fought pro bono for me, including the young lawyers. I am grateful to my lawyers, including late advocate Shrikant Shivade, Sadanand Phadke, senior counsel Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, and my young lawyers Viral Babar and Yasir Khan. They have put in their blood and sweat in this,” he said.
An National Investigation Agency special court on Thursday acquitted Lt Col Purohit, BJP leader and former MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi in the case related to the September 29, 2008, blast that killed six people and injured 100 in Malegaon.
The court held that the prosecution failed to provide cogent and reliable evidence and to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Lt Col Purohit further said, “When wrong people rise to the position of power, national institutions get contaminated. Then the nation suffers, people like us suffer, and the common man suffers. And healthy organisations like the Army also suffer. When we suffer, the adversary gets the benefit…”
“I am extremely grateful to my motherland for having given me the opportunity to serve her. And now I am extremely grateful to the judiciary because I will again be able to serve my nation as a free man and an Army officer. I am also a believer in service beyond my service in uniform. So whenever I retire, I will keep serving my motherland,” he added.
“The Army has always supported me. Right from sepoys to generals, everyone has extended their affection, love and care to me. I never got a feeling that I was not being looked after. The Intelligence Corps and my parent regiment, Maratha Light Infantry, have taken care of me like a child in the family.”
His wife Aparna Purohit told The Indian Express, “I can only say that I am relieved. I guess I will take some more time to gather my thoughts.”
Lt Col Purohit has been posted with an Army formation in Mumbai since he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the case in 2017. When the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested him after the blast, Lt Col Purohit was stationed at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, undergoing training in the Arabic language at the Army Education Corps Training College and Centre. He was then attached to a liaison unit of the Army’s Military Intelligence.
Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), the other acquitted Malegaon blast accused with an Army background, thanked the late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, besides his lawyers.
“I am grateful to my lawyers and all those who supported me in the difficult times. Balasaheb Thackeray stood by us. All allegations against me are proved false,” said Upadhyay, 73, while speaking to The Indian Express.
Now residing in Pune, Upadhyay is a native of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. The ATS arrested him in the case in 2008, and he got bail in 2017.
Upadhyay contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 in Ballia as an independent candidate. Earlier, he contested the UP Assembly elections from Bairia in Ballia district on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket in 2012 with permission from the court.
In 2020, he joined the Janta Dal (United), headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The JD (U) then appointed Upadhyay as the state convener for its ex-servicemen cell in UP.
“I have left politics now. I would spend my life in social work,” he said on Thursday.
Sameer Kulkarni, a Hindutva activist from Pune, said he lost valuable years of his life after being arrested in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, but was happy that finally justice had been delivered after the special NIA court acquitted him in the case. He had been out on bail since 2019.
Kulkarni was a resident of the Pimpri-Chinchwad area. He was known to be a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the past. Investigators alleged that he was an active member of the secretive Abhinav Bharat outfit and was involved in the bomb blast conspiracy.
But, in a press conference in Pune in April 2019, Kulkarni claimed that he had heard about the Malegaon blasts only after the ATS detained him. He further claimed that then ATS chief Hemant Karkare believed he was innocent and would have removed his name from the case, but was killed in the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.
