Purohit's 'links' to Samjhauta blasts

Probe into Pragya, Purohit's 'links' to Samjhauta blasts Times of India, 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. ( Watch ) "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.