Malegaon blast accused Colonel Purohit still a hero to his kids

Mumbai: ‘A father will always be a hero for his children’ this can be clearly seen in the Purohit family, which has suffered for more than nine years. Two sons, an old mother and a wife all waited eagerly for nine years for the release of Colonel Prasad S Purohit, who was behind the bars for his alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

Colonel Purohit was arrested in 2008 by the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly attending meetings and planning to execute bomb blasts in Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated region. In his defence, Colonel Purohit has maintained from day one, that he had kept his senior officials in loop about every meeting he had attended. He claims to have been “undercover” and was on a secret task to bust modules of “terrorism.”

Also Read: Col Shrikant Purohit case: Ex-prosecutor says there is inconsistency in NIA’s approach

Despite all the torture he has underwent only because of his “job” in the army, Col. Purohit’s son is keen to join the forces. In an exclusive telephonic conversation with The Free Press Journal, Aparna, wife of Col. Purohit, who has been the “shadow” of her husband in every up and down in his life. She informed her younger son, who is studying in seventh class, is motivated enough to join the forces.

“We have two sons, the elder one is in the first year of his graduation level while the younger one is in seventh. The younger son is quite motivated to join the forces, especially, despite the fact that his father had to suffer all these years because of his job, he still is keen to join the forces,” Aparna said.

Aparna further said, “The younger son knows the entire story of this case and how his father was framed. Also, his father is open to him they are quite close to each other. He is quite like his father and that is why he wants to do something for the country. Accordingly, he is interested to join army.” According to Aparna, the couple is making all efforts to support the younger son to achieve his goal to join the defence forces.

Aparna used to travel almost on a daily basis from Pune to Mumbai to attend the court proceedings. She has ensured that every single document (which is submitted in the court) is checked by her personally and is perfect from all aspects.

Also Read: 2008 Malegaon blast case: Supreme Court grants bail to Lt. Col Shrikant Purohit

She said, “It has been a very trying period for me and I was always stressed out everytime since I used to keep thinking as to what to do next in the court. I have closely monitored the case right from paper work to almost everything. I did not left any stationery work on any advocate or clerk instead I did it on my own. I did this since I wanted everything to be perfect as I did not wanted to leave any loop hole in the litigation work.”

“Initially it was difficult for my children since they used to question the whereabouts of their father. So I had to handle them too and make them understand the case. From all these years’ experience, I can say when a perosn goes to jail it is more of a punishment for the family. I had to handle my children, his mother, house and then his litigation work also. It used to be hectic but I never gave up and kept fighting on,” Aparna added.

Irrespective of the struggle and pains the family has gone through and particularly Aparna, she is still firm on her decision to encourage her son to join army. Currently, Col. Purohit is out on bail and is awaiting the orders of the special court on her discharge plea.