ATS links Lt Col Purohit with Samjhauta blasts

New Delhi: Prime accused in Malegaon bomb blast case Lt Col P S Purohit was also directly involved with 2007’s twin Samjhauta Express blasts that killed 68 people and injured 50, Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police told a Nashik Court on Saturday.

ATS alleged Purohit handed Army RDX from a consignment entrusted to him to one 'Bhagwan', who used it to carry out the Samjhauta Express blasts.

The Samjhauta Express — an amity train that runs between India and Pakistan — had many Pakistani visitors on board when the bombs went off.

Of the 68 who died, 42 were Pakistani. The blasts were triggered by low-intensity explosives which were accompanied by inflammable material.

Three unexploded suitcase bombs were later recovered from the train.

The army officer, who is alleged to have trained the other accused in handling explosives and procuring RDX for the September 29 blast in Malegaon, was presented to the court after his police custody period expired.

ATS alleged that Purohit is a recruit of Swami Amritanand Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey who they claim masterminded the Malegaon blast. The ATS says that Purohit organised RDX for that terror attack too.

Purohit has admitted that he met Sadhvi Pragya Thakur — the other key accused in the blast case — through the Swami.

Narco-analysis on Purohit has revealed that he had been tasked by Army Intelligence to gather information on SIMI.

The court remanded Purohit to further police custody till November 18 in the Malegaon blast case.

SUPPORT FOR PUROHIT

Meanwhile, nearly 350 volunteers of an organisation called Hindu Rashtra Sena were rounded up by the police after they demonstrated in front of a court in support of Purohit.

The activists, holding saffron flags and shouting slogans had arrived here from Mumbai to express solidarity with the accused, sources in the little known Hindu Rashtra Sena said.

Activists of the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who had staged demonstrations in front of the court when accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was brought before it, did not turn up this time.

Six people were killed in the low-intensity blast in the Maharashtra town of Malegaon on the night of September 29.

(With agency inputs)