‘Want to wear my uniform again’
Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast, has said the Army needs to take a call on whether or not to pursue his allegations of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) planting RDX to incriminate him.
Speaking to The Asian Age when he was brought to the session’s court on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Purohit said he wanted to don the uniform once again.
The Supreme Court had granted bail to Lt. Col. Purohit on surety of `1 lakh and also directed him to furnish one or two sureties of the same amount. However, on Tuesday the court granted him interim bail on furnishing `2 lakh. The formalities of furnishing sureties for his regular bail would be completed within a week or two.
Lt. Col. Purohit said his topmost priority after his release from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai is to head straight to his home in Pune and meet his mother and other family members. “I will eat food with my mom. It’s been nine years since I sat with the family for a meal,” he said.
Purohit has two sons. While the elder one is studying engineering, the younger son — who is 12 years old — wants to join Army and Lt. Col. Purohit wants him to join the infantry like him.
Expressing a desire to wear his uniform again, Lt. Col. Purohit said, “I want to wear my uniform; it is outermost layer of my skin.” He added that he would come to know where he would be posted only after reporting to his unit, as he had not received any communication from the Army since his arrest.