2008 Malegaon blast case: Taloja jail authorities ask court to shift Purohit back to ‘anda cell’

Six years after 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit was admitted in a jail hospital, Taloja prison authorities have asked the special court to let them take him back to ‘Anda cell’, an egg-shaped high-security cell in the jail, where blast accused are kept.

The prison authorities had on Monday submitted a record on Purohit’s extended stay in the jail hospital with the court. This move came after co-accused retired major Ramesh Upadhyay alleged that the copy of the court order passed in April 2011 directing jail authorities to admit Purohit to hospital was forged. 

He has alleged that the court order was of two paragraphs while the order that the jail authorities received had only one paragraph. Upadhyay said the order has facilitated Purohit to overstay in the hospital. 

After Upadhyay sought a probe against Purohit’s long stay at the hospital, the special court had ordered the jail authorities to file a report and called for records related to Purohit’s time in the hospital. The report confirmed that Purohit had been staying in jail hospital for more than five years. It also showed that part of the order was missing in the copy the jail authorities received. Confirming the development, special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal said, “The report has come from the jail and the court has taken it on record. The court has now kept the plea for hearing on March 6.” 

In April 2011 the special court had passed an order — on receipt of a medical report from the jail authorities in Taloja — directing Taloja jail authorities to admit Purohit in hospital. “Superintendent and medical officer of Taloja Central Prison are directed to admit the accused 9 Prasad Purohit in the prison hospital for his further treatment for a specific period, subject to he being given adequate security coverage,” stated the alleged original order. It added, “In view of the submission by the special public prosecutor, the registrar is directed to send copies of the order to: 1) Commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai 2) Inspector General (prisons), Mumbai 3) DG Maharasthra state at Mumbai, 4) DG Nia, New Delhi, Ministry of Home affairs.” 

But, the order received by the jail authorities, which Upadhyay obtained through an RTI query, stated, “Superintendent and medical officer of Taloja central prison is directed to admit the accused 9 Prasad Purohit in the prison hospital for his further treatment subject to he being given adequate security coverage.”

READ MORE

Malegaon blast: Accused Purohit forged court order to stay in hospital for 6 years?