MI stint helped organise blast, says Lt Col in narco test

The narco-analysis conducted on Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit has revealed the shocking information that the information gathered by him, during his tenure in the Military Intelligence wing of the army, was utilised to plan the Malegaon blast instead.

During the narco-analysis, conducted on the armyman in Bengaluru last week, Purohit revealed that he had gathered information about a local group in Malegaon which specialised in assembling bombs. An investigating officer told rediff.com that during the narco test, where he confessed to his involvement in the blast, Purohit admitted that he had used the information about the local group to plan his terror attack.

Sadhvi's father: 'Pragya's innocent'

The Mumbai ATS maintains that Sadhvi Pragya Singh and her accomplices were able to carry out the Malegaon blast because of the assistance provided by Purohit.

"While serving as an officer in the Military Intelligence, I was assigned the job of collecting information on terror outfits in the Maharashtra region. I managed to collect a lot of information. During the course of my duty, I zeroed in on a Muslim group in Malegaon, which had helped the Students Islamic Movement of India assemble and plant bombs near a Muslim graveyard in Malegaon two years ago.

'No communal feelings in the army'

"I got in touch with this group and convinced them to assemble bombs for our outfit. They agreed to do the same for a few thousand rupees. I even resorted to threatening this group to do this work, when they initially refused to do so. We had planned on carrying out a terror strike at Malegaon this year and the planning was undertaken by Pragya Singh Thakur and her mentor Swami Amritananda (aka Dayanand Pandey), along with me.

The bombs that were finally assembled were very similar to the ones used during the Malegaon blasts of 2006. We also decided to use the same modus operandi by planting the bombs on on motor cycles. We decided to undertake a similar operation for two reasons. First and foremost, we wanted to avenge the attacks by SIMI in various parts of the country and secondly we thought by using similar tactics, we could mislead the police," Purohit allegedly stated during his narco test.

Malegaon Blast Aftermath

Sources in the Anti-Terrorist Squad say Purohit, who has been held responsible for tarnishing the army's image, broke down several times during the interrogations. The army officer, who has been placed under a disciplinary ban, held some of his associates responsible for instilling hatred against another community.

"The hatred grew and the various instances of blasts in the country only angered me more. My friends and I thought that we need to give a fitting reply and avenge the killings of so many persons. Hindus are not weak and Hindus are capable of giving a fitting reply to avenge terror attacks," Purohit reportedly stated, while explaining the motivation behind the Malegaon blast.

'You can't plan Malegaon blast in one day'