Purohit faces another forgery charge

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Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, accused in the Malegaon blast case, is now facing fresh charges of forging a military identity card for his accomplice Sudhakar Chaturvedi. Purohit is at present in the custody of the Anti-terrorism Squad (Nashik), facing similar charges of forgery involving another associate, Yeshwant Date.

On November 4, the Matunga police had arrested Chaturvedi, 37, from Dadar railway station and recovered a revolver without licence and a fake identity card of the Deolali military cantonment from him.

Chaturvedi was the national co-ordinator of the organisation, Abhinav Bharat, a group of like-minded pro-Hindutva elements formed to fight “anti-Hindu” acts in the last decade. Police claimed that Chaturvedi admitted to his role in planning the Malegaon blast. Chaturvedi was later handed over to the ATS.

During interrogation Chaturvedi said Purohit prepared the fake identity card for him in 2005. Purohit was posted at Deolali, Nashik, as liaisoning officer at the time.

Sunil Deshmukh, senior inspector of Matunga police station, said, “Purohit prepared a forged identity card for Chaturvedi for entry into the Deolali military cantonment. An FIR has been registered. We will take him into our custody after the ATS inquiry process is finished.”

Till date, ATS has arrested 11 people for their alleged role in the Malegaon blast. Of these, ATS has booked 8 including Purohit, Pragya Singh Thakur, retired Major Ramesh Upadhay and Mahant Dayanand Pandey under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA).

Police are now looking to book them under Section 121 of the IPC (waging war against the nation). The ATS claimed that Purohit was the mastermind and provided the RDX used in the blast.
 
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