In his written statement to the special NIA court, Colonel Purohit stated that Hemant Karkare, Param Bir Singh, and Colonel Shrivastav persisted in pressuring him to confess to involvement in the Malegaon bomb blast and to implicate senior right-wing leaders of the RSS and VHP, including Yogi Adityanath, who was the BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh at that time.
Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, a defendant in the Malegaon 2008 blast case, has disclosed that he was subjected to torture and suffered a broken right knee by officers from the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) during illegal interrogations aimed at coercing him to implicate senior right-wing leaders of RSS and VHP, including Yogi Adityanath, who was then a BJP Member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh.
Purohit claimed that in August 2008, over a month before the Malegaon blast occurred, “out of nowhere, the President of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) at a rally of party workers in Alibaug made a statement that it is not just Islamic terrorists, but there are Hindu terrorists as well. This marked the first instance of the term ‘Hindu Terror’ being coined. This prophetic statement was immediately followed by the unfortunate incident on September 29, 2008.”
After his arrest in Mumbai, Purohit recounted being taken to an isolated bungalow in Khandala where he was interrogated by Hemant Karkare, the late ATS chief, and Param Bir Singh, who was then the joint commissioner of ATS.
“Karkare and Param Bir Singh repeatedly pressured me to reveal details about my intelligence network, including the list of my sources and assets who helped me gather information on SIMI, ISI, and Dr. Zakir Naik’s activities. I refused to disclose my source network, as it goes against the fundamental principles of intelligence,” Purohit stated.
He further detailed that Colonel PK Shrivastav, a retired senior army officer, “betrayed him” by turning him over to the ATS. Shrivastav was the first to strike him while in police custody. Param Bir Singh also physically assaulted him while six constables restrained Purohit.
“I endured treatment that no animal should ever face and was treated worse than a prisoner of war from an enemy nation. Karkare, Param Bir Singh, and Colonel Shrivastav repeatedly pressured me to confess to the Malegaon bomb blast and implicate senior right-wing leaders of the RSS and VHP, including Yogi Adityanath, the then Member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh. This torture persisted relentlessly until November 3, 2008.” Purohit claimed that due to the torture inflicted on him, his knee was broken, rendering him unable to walk. He alleged that he was informed about plans to assassinate him in custody.
On November 5, 2008, Purohit was formally arrested, and he stated that the ATS fabricated an investigation targeting individuals they always intended to arrest, likely under political directives. The case was constructed around these targeted individuals, who are now the accused.
Purohit submitted this written statement to the special court through his lawyer, Viral Babar. The court has been recording statements from all accused individuals prosecuted for their alleged involvement in the blast. The court has completed recording Purohit’s statement and statements from other accused individuals in response to the prosecution’s evidence.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded in a city square in Malegaon, killing six people and injuring 100 others.
