Saturday, December 13, 2008

Who is Lt. Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit?

Well neither did it appear to anyone else until investigations of the Malegaon blasts after the arrest of Hindu activist, Pragya Singh, led the trail of the deadly explosions to Purohit and a retired Major, Ramesh Upadhaya, amongst others.

According to insiders in the army, Purohit was given the critical responsibility of raising 41 Rashtriya Rifles, a dedicated counter-terrorism force that operates out of Kupwara, in northern Kashmir. Kupwara remains one of the main points of infiltration of terrorists from across the Line of Control. His tenure in Jammu and Kashmir ended in January, 2005, while serving in the Awantipora-based 31-Counter Intelligence Unit of the MI. Well informed sources say that Purohit’s involvement in the cloak and dagger game dates back to his days in the crucial MI in a Kashmir valley defined by civil war conditions - days where for a military intelligence officer, it would often become very difficult to differentiate between foe and friend. Like all sensitive intelligence assignments, the job demanded establishing contacts with jehadis, a task considered vital for reading the rival’s mind. The purpose: to pick up and collate information and tactical intelligence.


According to the ATS, during one of the raids, the army seized 60 kg of RDX which, later Purohit informed his colleagues, had been dutifully dumped into the Jhelum river. In reality, it was smuggled into Maharashtra by the army officer and his accomplices and subsequently used in the explosions. Military sources told TSI that Purohit was later moved to Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh for pursuing a Chinese language course at the Army Education Corps College – his parent cadre - from where he was arrested by the ATS.....Continue