Colonel Purohit taken to Nashik for remand

Mumbai, Nov 18 (UNI) Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit, was taken to Nashik by Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) to be produced before the District and Sessions court there for further remand, as his police custody gets expired today.

At around 0800 hrs, he was taken to King Edward Memorial Hospital at Parel in Central Mumbai for medical examination.

He was arrested by ATS on November 5 for his alleged involvement in the Malegaon bomb blasts, in which six people were killed and several others injured.

Purohit is believed to be the founding member of the Abhinav Bharat, a right wing radical Hindu outfit. This is first case that any serving Army officer has been taken into custody for interrogation in connection with bomb blast charges. It is also believed that he had arranged RDX for the blast.

In all, 10 people have been arrested in connection with the blast including Purohit. The others are Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Swami Amritanand, Sameer Kulkarni, Jagdish Mhatre, Rakesh Dhawde, Ajay Rahirkar, Shamlal Bhavar Sahu and Shivnarayan Singh.

ATS has claimed that there was a link between Purohit and Upadhyay.

UNI ST SSS LPB RAI1343