In his letter dated April 4 to the Defence Minister, Lt Col Purohit had claimed he has been falsely implicated in Samjhauta blast and Malegaon blast cases. (File photo)
Highlights
- Lt Col Prasad Purohit was never an accused, no proof against him: NIA
- But he was chargesheeted in 2008 Malegaon blasts, NIA probing the matter
- Blasts in the Attari Express (Samjhauta) train killed 68 in 2007
The National Investigation Agency has said that Lt Col Prasad Purohit was never an accused in the Samjhauta blast case and was there is no proof against him.
"There is no proof against him in Samjhauta blast case. He was never an accused. I wonder why his name is being linked to Samjhauta blast case," NIA Director General Sharad Kumar told the Press Trust of India.
Mr Kumar however said that Purohit has been chargesheeted by ATS Mumba in Malegaon blasts in 2008 and the NIA was carrying out further investigations in the matter.
Eight people have been chargesheeted in connection with the Samjhauta blast - Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Asimanand, Late Sunil Joshi alias Sunilji, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange (both absconding), Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan, Amit and Rajender Choudhary.
The case is to unravel a criminal conspiracy behind the bomb blasts in the Attari Express (Samjhauta) train near Panipat, Haryana on February 18, 2007. 68 people were killed in the blast and the consequent fire.
Lt Col Prasad Purohit is an accused in bombing in Malegaon area of Maharashtra on September 29, 2008. Four people were killed while several others injured. The probe was initially conducted by the Maharashtra ATS and later handed over to the NIA.
Besides Purohit, Pragya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu, Ramesh Upadhya, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay, Rakesh Dhawade, Jagdish Mhatre, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Pravin Takalki have been arrested.
Ramaji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, who are absconding accused in the Samjhauta blast case, have also been chargesheeted in this case.