Released from jail, Purohit attends court

MUMBAI: Guarded by Army personnel, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Monday, today appeared before a court in Mumbai which is hearing arguments on framing of charges in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

Purohit, released from the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai yesterday, came to the special court for National Investigation Agency cases escorted by a posse of armed Army personnel.

The hearing on framing of charges would continue on August 28, said special prosecutor Avinash Rasal.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, his wife Aparna said Purohit's release nearly nine years after his arrest was an emotional moment for the family.

"He was happy to meet the children...it's yet to sink in," Aparna said. She and her husband would be happy if their children too joined the Army, Aparna added.

"Till now I was alone (in fighting the legal battle for her husband), now he will also join me," she said, talking about the blast case in which Purohit is a key accused.

Purohit yesterday reported to his Army unit after he was released from prison. A team of Military Police and Quick Response Team of the Army took him to a military station at Colaba in south Mumbai.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre on August 21 set aside an order of the Bombay High Court which had denied him bail.

Six people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29, 2008 at Malegaon, a communally sensitive textile town in Nashik district of north Maharashtra.