Plot 1: November 2008 - Misusing the powers that top influential Government offices, officers and certain elected representatives of this Country are vested with, a serving Army Lt Colonel is arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with the bomb blasts at Malegaon on 29^th September 2008.  Malegaon is a city in the Nashik district, of Maharashtra. 

Plot 2: Day after day, at a lightning pace, stories are woven around the arrested Lt Colonel on how he was trying to exact revenge against Islamic terror.  The country then, during the infamous UPA era of 2005-2014, was reeling under Islamic terror, witnessing bomb blasts and terror incidents in major cities in quick succession, unchecked and uncontrolled.  The terrorists were having a free run.

Plot 3: Enter many more individuals and an organisation called Abhinav Bharat and there is established a link between the arrested serving Lt Colonel and other individuals as members of Abhinav Bharat.  Abhinav Bharat is linked to the fake “Saffron Terror” incidents.

Plot 4: Propagate “Saffron Terror”, narrating the stories already woven around the arrested individuals by keeping the arrested Lt Colonel as the face of “Saffron Terror”.

Plot 5: Provide official recognition to “Saffron Terror” or “Hindu Terror” and unduly influence investigation to conclude and permanently embed in the mind of the citizens that “Saffron Terror” is parallel to ‘Islamic terror’.

The above plots are not out of any fictional film or novel but sadly, were truly unleashed, leading to events that will send shivers down every Hindu’s spine.  The central character is Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, a serving decorated Military Intelligence Officer. On that fateful day of 5^th November 2008, Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, a Military Intelligence Officer posted at Deolali in Nashik, Maharashtra was officially arrested linking him to the Malegaon bomb blast. Thereafter commenced the sordid saga of an entire establishment coming down like a ton of bricks on a decorated and serving Indian Army Lt Colonel to wrongly implicate him in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.  The internal security establishment wanted to achieve the ulterior objective of creating “Hindu Terror” as a parallel to Islamic Terror.   

The ordeal of Lt Colonel Purohit is narrated in a chilling manner by Smt. Smita Mishra, a bilingual journalist of repute, in her new book “Lt Colonel Purohit – The Man Betrayed?” published by Vitasta Publishing Private Limited.  Though the information in the book is available in the open but scattered across sources and means, the author does a marvellous job of collating it to narrate true events separating fact and fiction.  Owing to the sensitive nature of the case and the matter being sub judice, most of the sources are unnamed.

The author also quotes her personal interaction with Lt Colonel Purohit and his wife Smt. Aparna Purohit, reading which one can understand the trauma that his family has undergone as also the stigma which the family including two children have suffered.  The book meticulously details the Army’s Court of Inquiry, the Court hearings, the role of ATS and NIA, the role of certain officers of the Indian army, police and politicians.

Though Lt Colonel Purohit was cleared by the second Court of Inquiry of the Army, he could secure a bail at the ‘Supreme Court’ only during 2017 after languishing in prison for close to 9 years as an undertrial, which is a travesty of justice.  After reading this book which highlights the role played by some of the officers of the army and ATS, it is but logical for the reader to question the credibility of agencies like the Mumbai ATS, National Investigative Agency (NIA) and certain other internal security establishments whose functioning can easily be unduly influenced by the elected representatives to achieve their hidden agenda, political and otherwise.  Many an officer of repute who is considered heroes is not above suspicion and their conduct questionable.  Certainly, the establishment reeks of turf wars, compromises, corruption, collusion, treachery, sedition, betrayals and backstabbing more so with respect to this particular case.

One can get to understand from the book how dynamic and duty-bound the Lt Colonel was in his role as a Military Intelligence Officer, who successfully infiltrated deep into certain jihadi outfits.  It is a shame that a successful intelligence operation was turned on its head to implicate those very same officers who were close enough to dismantle jihadi outfits like SIMI. As a result of this diabolical plan, India offered a handle on a platter to Pakistan, a terrorist state, to spread propaganda against India at every opportunity and at every international forum.  

This is a much-needed and must-read book that has made a sincere attempt to highlight the fact that the so-called “Hindu Terror” was a fake narrative and also highlights the deficiencies in the internal security establishment which can be misused at any time. 

It is everybody’s wish that Lt Colonel Purohit gets a fair trial and is cleared of all the charges framed which will then expose all those internal saboteurs and also permanently erase the notion of “Hindu Terror”.

Image source: Metrovaartha