New Delhi: Hopeful after the formation of the NDA government at the Centre, Malegaon blast case accused Lt. Col. P. S. Purohit has made a desperate “appeal” to PM Narendra Modi, claiming his innocence and craving to be set free. Lt. Col. Purohit was alleged to be part of the “Hindu terror network.”
Sources said that the Modi government is likely to follow the rule-book strictly on the matter. Lt. Col. Purohit, lodged in the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai, has pointed out that the case against him, now being handled by the NIA is “yet to come up for hearing” and, therefore, far from reaching its conclusion.
In his 18-page handwritten letter, Lt. Col. Purohit has accused the anti-terrorism squad of the Maharashtra police of “ruthlessly implicating innocents” and of “creating terrorists out of innocent and patriotic sons of the soil for reasons best known to them and their policy-makers.”
The Maharashtra police had accused Lt. Col. Purohit of being part of the extremist right-wing Abhinav Bharat group and being involved in the Malegaon blast of 2008.
Alleging brutal torture at the hands of the ATS around the time of his arrest, Lt. Col. Purohit has written, “The worst-possible third-degree treatment, probably which not even an enemy nation would dish out to a prisoner of war, was given to me which left me broken, both mentally and physically.”
Urging to be set free he has written, “At this stage, what I most urgently need and crave for, is liberty. I have my old mother, my wife and two sons to look after. This life of imprisonment is no less than death to me.”
He has sought “relief for the innocent” from the government.
