Colonel Shrikant Purohit | Photo Credit: VIVEK BENDRE

The Indian Army has given nod to Colonel Shrikant Purohit, acquitted of charges in Malegaon blast case last year, for promotion to the rank of Brigadier after the Armed Forces Tribunal stayed his retirement on March 31, 2026.

Purohit had petitioned the AFT on the ground that his career growth was adversely impacted due to the prolonged trial in 2008 Malegaon blast case. He was one of the accused in the case before getting acquitted by a NIA court in Mumbai.

The Army’s former intelligence officer argued that the delay in the judicial process denied him a fair opportunity for promotion within the Army hierarchy.

Purohit was commissioned in the Maratha Light Infantry in 1994 but eight years later he shifted to intelligence corps. He was posted at Deolali as an intelligence officer when he was accused of being involved in the Malegaon bomb blast.

Court of inquiry

A court of inquiry was constituted on May 4, 2009. Purohit challenged the findings of the court of inquiry in the Armed Forces Tribunal on the grounds that he was not given full and fair opportunity of being present throughout the proceedings and to cross examine witnesses, violating Army Rule 180. The AFT in its order stated that the court of inquiry “suffers from the vice of irregularity”.

In the given circumstances, it would be just and proper to direct to further convene the court of inquiry from the stage when the statements of the witnesses were recorded on September 1, 2010 in absence of the Colonel, the AFT had ruled.

The Mumbai NIA court let off Purohit and six others in the Malegaon blast case, observing that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The others acquitted included former MP Sadhvi Pragya, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhankar Dhar Dwivedi (Shankaracharya) and Sameer Kulkarni.

The explosion occurred on September 29, 2008, when a bomb attached to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon’s Bhikku Chowk area in Maharashtra. The blast killed six people and left 95 others injured.

In 2011, the case was transferred from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Over the next 17 years, investigators conducted extensive inquiries and examined hundreds of witnesses, ultimately leading to the acquittal of all the accused of charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, and other related offenses.

Published on April 10, 2026