MUMBAI: Dr Aparna Purohit visits the Sessions Court here from Pune whenever her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, is produced during the trial of the September 29, 2008, Malegaon bomb blasts case. With the belief that her “meticulous” husband will wipe out the blot of being a “criminal”, she has approached Bombay High Court for his bail.
On April 15, 2015, the Supreme Court had discarded the stringent MCOCA charges against Purohit, indicating that he was not a terrorist. The apex court had ordered the setting up of a special court to consider his bail application in a month. The special court, which was established in September last year, denied bail to Purohit.
A year later, Aparna, a homoeopath, has set her eyes on the High Court, which will hear his bail plea on April 2. “I have high hopes from the High Court. There is nothing against Prasad. I can’t understand why the case does not move ahead,” she says.
She has reasons to complain. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating the case, has not yet filed a chargesheet in the case seven years after the blasts took place.
The special court is conducting the trial based on a chargesheet filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
“The five years that we have lost are due to NIA not filing a chargesheet even after taking over the case in April 2011, making it impossible for the case to proceed,” she says.
Aparna adds that the Court of Inquiry (CoI) initiated by the army in 2008 has not yet submitted its recommendations and has not even moved to the stage of summary evidence based on which charges are framed. “It became clear in the CoI that Prasad had kept his seniors in the loop on his every action,” she says.
She believes that the then government framed Purohit. “He was reporting several sensitive issues related to SIMI, ISI. It is not easy to arrest a serving army officer. It was a pre-planned move,” she says.
The case has disturbed her medical practice. Earlier, she used to run her clinic from her Pune house. Now, her friends’ clinics have become support centres for her.
SLOW MOTION
Sept 2008: Blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra kill 10
Nov 2008: Prasad Purohit and others arrested for conspiracy
Jan 2009: ATS files chargesheet in MCOCA court
Dec 2010: Court rejects Purohit’s bail application
July 2011: NIA seeks custody
Nov 2011: Bombay HC denies him bail
Apr 2015: SC says MCOCA not applicable for Purohit
Oct 2015: Special court denies him bail
Apr 2016: HC to hear the bail plea