The latest revelations in the Col. Srikant Purohit episode, have raised many questions. Each new revelation removes the veil of secrecy that there was a collaborated conspiracy to invent the notion of Saffron-Terror. But this was known all along. Now that the courts have confirmed and demolished the bogey of Saffron terror completely, it is time to explore the motives behind framing Col. Purohit.

A former member of the Mumbai ATS Mehboob Abdul Karim Mujawar, now suspended, who had been assigned to be with the team that investigated the Malegaon Blast case claims in an on-camera interview with Republic TV that the ATS investigation into the case was fake as they were forced to prove something contrary to the truth. Mujawar said that the recovered RDX that Lt Col Purohit was accused of having supplied to the Malegaon bombers was planted by the ATS under the then government's instructions. He also added that he had accumulated evidence, comprising documents, photographs that he claims will be of value once he produces them in court.

When asked about why he hasn't come out with this sensational claim and backing evidence earlier, Mujawar alleged that interested persons, including politicians (State as well as Center, belonging to Congress party) whom he refrained from naming, had "crushed him" till now.

Mujawar then made another shocking claim, saying that Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, the two accused bombers in the Malegaon blast had been eliminated by the ATS. He added that he had evidence for this too, which he claims he will present in court before the CJM of Solapur.

Col Purohit was operating a source network through which he had obtained intelligence inputs. The Congress also never revealed that the source or the fact that Sudhakar Chaturvedi, who was named an accused in the case, was actually a ‘source’ who worked for the Army.

In the Republic TV report, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, named an accused in the same case was actually ‘providing details on political and religious activities in the area of responsibility' and was granted bail one month after Lt. Colonel Purohit was released in 2017. Now, Chaturvedi has revealed how Congress chose to suppress the truth even after having full knowledge of the case.

He told Republic TV: "Several backstabbers have infiltrated our police and military system. They are scheming to plot against our Army men. Now the truth has emerged. In 2008, a letter was written by the Additional CP of ATS, Rakesh Maria to the Head of Commandant, asking if Lt. Col Purohit had a source," said Chaturvedi. This query about Col Purohit's activities came few days after Suresh Kalmadi was questioned over the CWG scam. It was at a time when the Congress needed a distraction.

The Directorate General of Military Intelligence wrote to concerned army offices for more information on the matter but the Congress government chose not to follow up. The response said that there was ‘no input available with the office regarding any official communication pertaining to any terror-related inputs or information about meetings’ in the case of Lt Colonel Purohit. This ‘no input available’ response given in 5 days was used as the gospel truth against Col Purohit.

The Congress party and the UPA government knew that Lt Col Purohit was only doing his job gathering sensitive military intelligence information and kept his superiors in the loop at every stage when he was picked up in October 2008. For 10 years, he’s been labeled a ‘Hindu terror accused’.

Republic TV has claimed that it has in its possession another confidential document that proves Lt Colonel Purohit was not performing any unlawful activity but was on state duty and the Army knew about it, which Congress party and also the Army concealed, willfully.

"The Army under A.K. Antony was under pressure from the Congress Government since elections were around the corner," claims the expose. So, Col Purohit was allowed to be persecuted in such a gross a manner? It does not speak highly of the top brass Army officers of that time. It’s the greatest betrayal of an Army officer. But imagine the character of Col Purohit, who did not utter a word against the institution.

In the 2008 Malegaon Blast case, first the Police said that unsophisticated, crude bombs were used. The investigation was led by Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was later killed in the 2008 Mumbai Attacks. PTI had reported that on 5th October 2008 police had arrested a Muslim man in connection to the bombings. In fact, late ATS Chief Hemant Karkare was forced by the UPA Govt. to nail Col. Purohit.

Surprisingly, with a twist in the investigation, only on the basis of the bike being used in the blast, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested along with Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu. The said bike once belonged to Sadhvi Pragya, which she sold in 1997 way before she took to a spiritual quest.

On 25 October, two more ex-army personnel were also questioned and in two days the total arrest count mounted to seven. The ATS reported that they were part of an alleged "larger conspiracy", without elaborating what the conspiracy, or the basis for it, was.

On 4 November, the case heated up with the arrest of serving Colonel Shrikant Purohit. Col. Purohit's counsel alleged that Purohit, with a distinguished service record in the army, was being victimized for political reasons and that he could even be eliminated by the ATS.

It is obvious that the manner in which NIA has investigated is intriguing, unusual, unprecedented, and explicitly points to insidious and hidden motives in the probe. Given the political propensities and compulsion of the ruling Congress party repeatedly made explicit by its functionaries including the HM P Chidambaram and its General Secretary Digvijay Singh about the notion of Hindu terror, the unusual investigation of the NIA and its rejection and suppression of such vital evidence makes it a case of fixing Col Purohit.

This was how the Malegaon Blast focus – later the blame – shifted from SIMI to Col Purohit and via Purohit on to Saffron-Terror.

Now the question emerges, why would the Govt. machinery falsely implicate its own Army Officer who was obtaining intelligence for the nation, arrest and torture him for years and call him a "Hindu-Terrorist?"

The simple answer is, he knew too much.

In 2007, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had issued series of alerts regarding the build-up of Burdwan module, which interestingly was spotted in 2007 by none other than Col. Purohit. His reports (Col. Purohit’s Burdwan warning of 2007) stated that there was movement from Bangladesh, where in Islamic radicals were crossing over into West Bengal and settling down. Col. Purohit’s report is a clear indication that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) with the able support of the Jamaat-e-Islami had decided on making West Bengal a base in order to target the establishment in Bangladesh.

Detailing the sinister design of JMB, he stated that its primary purpose was not only to create unrest in Bangladesh but in the long run, target the Indian establishment as well. He also speaks at length about the creation of an Islamic Necklace which would include the states of Assam, West Bengal, and Tripura and these areas have seen a great deal of infiltration over the of the years.

The same outfits also had planned on coming down to South. They had planned on setting up the Usmanistan module in the Telangana, and the Maplistan movement in Kerala. This meant that these militants would have three deadly modules within India called the Islamistan, Maplistan and the Usmanistan across India.

The Indian IB had been warning the UPA Govt. about the increased infiltrations. Every day 100s were pushed into India exploiting their socio-economic condition and in this batch, Islamic radicals also were able to get in.

These were uncomfortable reports and Col. Purohit had in fact claimed that he had become a target. Till date no one convicted in all these cases. Why is it that our intelligence framing up charges against "Saffron Terror" on UPA Government and its senior ministers' behest?

It seems Col Purohit was in the possession of intelligence data of sensitive nature pertaining to SIMI and ISI operations and was closing in into it's Indian handlers who were directly linked with some top political quarters which could embarrass top UPA leaders.

Image Credits: ANI News

The dangerous game of Congress in trying to prove terrorists as innocent and upright officers as terror suspects to settle political scores is frightening. On at whose exact behest was this being done warrants a proper investigation. The question is can we expect such a time-bound investigation soon?