Mumbai: A day after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit said he wanted to rejoin the Army as soon as possible. “I want to wear my uniform. It is the outermost layer of my skin. I am wedded to it. I am very happy to get back into the service of the best organisation in the country, if not the world, the Indian army,” he told reporters outside the Sessions Court on Tuesday.
Mr. Purohit, whose bail formalities are yet to be completed, had been brought to the court for a hearing on framing of charges. “I have two families, the army, and my wife, two sons, sister and mother. I can’t wait to return to them,” he said.
“The army didn’t let me down. It has been the tradition and ethos of the army not to let down its men. I never even once felt that I was out of the army,” he said, while praising his wife for helping him in his legal fight.
Asked if he will seek action against the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad for allegedly planting RDX on him, Mr. Purohit said he was part of an institution, and if those claims were true, his seniors in the Army will deal with the matter.
“I am too small a fry to fight this,” he said, adding no one was to blame but his destiny.“The army is the only institution in the country which is not shaken by the ripples of what is happening in society,” he said.
While granting him bail, the apex court said there were “material contradictions” in the charge sheets filed by the ATS and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which were required to be tested at the time of trial.
