New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant interim bail to Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Lt Col Purohit, a Military Intelligence officer had claimed that he had "infiltrated" Hindu radical outfit Abhinav Bharat, did his job properly and also kept his bosses in the loop about the group's activities.
The Military Intelligence officer is facing two separate trials, one is being handled by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the other one is Army's Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the matter. The Army has completed the CoI under a Brigadier-level officer against Purohit and submitted its findings to the Southern Command headquarters.
None of the 60 witnesses who deposed before the CoI have corroborated the charge of Purohit being a terrorist, newsmagazine Outlook said based on testimonies of these witnessed accessed by it. Army sources, when asked if the service had decided in haste while taking action against the officer, said whatever action deemed appropriate at that time, was taken by the authorities.
The CoI againt Purohit had commenced on April 7, 2009 and first concluded on September 1, 2010 after recording the statements of all the witnesses and reportedly recommended his dismissal from service. However, after Purohit went in appeal against the CoI in the Armed Forces Tribunal, the services court asked the inquiry to be reconvened after finding that certain witnesses were not allowed to be cross-examined by the accused officer as per the Army laws.
In his plea before the AFT, Purohit had also stated that he was given "extreme inhuman treatment" by one Colonel RK Srivastava during his interrogation. Purohit had also contended that his trial by the CoI was invalid as proceedings against him were already on in a MCOCA court.
A bench of justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad refused to grant any interim relief after senior advocate UR Lalit appearing for the accused contended they have been behind bars for four years and their petitions are not being heard by the apex court. "We will not give interim bail at this stage," the bench said.
The bench further said that "it's not our fault" that the petitions are not being heard on a regular basis, after the state government sought adjournment of the case. The court adjourned the case for three weeks. The bench also extended its interim order restraining the the National Investigation Agency from interrogating the accused.
On January 4, 2012, the apex court had extended its stay of the Bombay High Court order allowing the agency to interrogate him and had also impleaded the NIA on the bail plea of Purohit. On December 16, 2011, the bench had stayed the operation of the high court's order.
Purohit was arrested and issued a charge sheet in connection with the Malegaon bomb blast that took place on September 29, 2008 leaving seven people dead.
With Additional Inputs from PTI
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