[Reader-list] et tu, Purohit

[Javed]

Probe into Pragya, Purohit's 'links' to Samjhauta blasts
13 Nov 2008, 2017 hrs IST, PTI

CHANDIGARH: A Haryana Railway police team has reached Mumbai to
interrogate Malegaon blast case suspects Lt Col Srikant Prasad Purohit
and
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur after it was established that suitcase
bombs, which blew up two bogies of Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express train in
February last year were assembled in Indore.

"Our team has gone to Mumbai yesterday. Today, they could not
interrogate anyone as other agencies investigating the Malegaon case
are also busy with them," Inspector General (Railway Police), K K
Mishra said on Thursday.

He said they had already informed Mumbai's Anti terror Squad that they
wanted to question Purohit and Pragya.

"Earlier, our investigations in the Samjhauta probe had led us to
Indore after we got clues that the suitcases and stichings on them
which were used in the explosions were procured from Indore," he said.

Sixty eight people were killed in the explosions on Samjhauta Express
that runs between Delhi and Lahore.

Both Purohit and Pragya Singh have been arrested from Madhya Pradesh
in connection with Malegaon blast and are in custody of Maharashtra
ATS.

ATS tightlipped on Purohit's laptop

The Maharashtra ATS probing the Malegaon blast case remained
tighlipped on whether a laptop of arrested army officer Prasad Purohit
believed to be containing crucial information had been traced.

ATS officials said they would not comment on the issue as the laptop
was a crucial part of the investigation.

The information in the laptop is expected to throw further light on
the conspiracy behind the blast that took place in the
communally-sensitive town of Maharashtra on September 29 killing six
persons, officials had said.

The laptop is said to contain names of 54 persons who are suspected to
have undergone training in handling of arms and explosives at Bhonsala
Military School in 2001.

Officials at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory in the suburban
Santacaruz denied reports that they had received a computer for
analysis.

Purohit, a serving army officer, is among the 10 persons arrested for
their alleged involvement in the Malegaon blast in which six were
killed and about 80 injured.

Four persons including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, retired army
official Ramesh Upadhyay, Abhinav Bharat member Sameer Kulkarni and
Purohit have undergone scientific tests like brain mapping, polygraph
and narco-analysis.

Eight persons are presently in judicial custody till November 17 and
Purohit is in police custody till November 15.

The ATS on Thursday obtained the custody of religious leader Dayanand
Pandey alias Sudhakar Dwivedi from a Lucknow court.

Pandey is accused of having attended several meetings prior to the
Malegaon blast along with Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and other
accused in Nashik and Madhya Pradesh.

Pandey, head of Sharda Sarvagya Peeth in Jammu, was picked up by the
ATS yesterday and was quizzed on charges of murder, conspiracy and
various sections of the Explosives Act.

A team from the ATS may visit Jammu and Kashmir to probe Pandey's
activities in that state.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3710003,flstry-1.cms