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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Two-day police custody for Purohit

Staff Reporter

Mumbai: Malegaon blast suspect Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit was on Wednesday remanded to two days police custody till November 21 by a Pune court in a case of forgery.

The Pune Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is investigating the case. Inspector Peter Lobo said the complaint against Purohit was registered by Milind Date. Mr. Date came to know Purohit in 2003. In 2005, when Mr. Date wanted a pistol, Purohit offered to get a licence for him citing his Army background.

Mr. Date gave him Rs.35,000 for the pistol and a licence form secured from the Police Commissioner of Pune. However, Purohit forged papers and got a licence from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), said public prosecutor Anil Vishwanath Avsekar. Moreover, Purohit had mentioned Mr. Date’s designation as “Major.” When Mr. Date objected to this, Purohit said he would cancel the licence, but did not do so.

On October 25, 2008, Purohit called Mr. Date and said he had his “double barrel gun” and asked him to collect it from Satara in Maharashtra. Mr. Date smelt a rat and complained to the police on November 4, 2008, the police official said.

Now the ATS will investigate how he procured the licence from J&K, Mr. Avsekar said.

Sameer Kulkarni, another Malegaon blast suspect, was remanded to one-day police custody on Wednesday. The Khadki police, Pune, will interrogate him in connection with an attack on a pastor Peter David Silway of the Vineyard Workers Church at Bopodi, Pune, in 2007.

Purohit and Kulkarni are in judicial custody till November 29 for the Malegaon case.

Corrections and Clarifications

The sixth paragraph of a report "Two-day police custody for Purohit" (November 20, 2008) was ". Sameer Kulkarni, another Malegaon blast suspect, was remanded to one-day police custody on Wednesday. The Khadki police, Pune, will interrogate him in connection with an attack on a pastor Peter David Silway of the Vineyard Workers Church at Bopodi, Pune, in 2007." It should have been Dapodi, Pune.

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