Nashik:Malegaon bomb blast accused Lt. Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit was being physically tortured in the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) custody, his father-in-law Vasant Dalvi alleged in a complaint filed in a court here Thursday.
Alleging that Purohit was being beaten up during interrogation in the police custody, Dalvi requested the chief judicial magistrate s court to order the army officer s medical examination. While the police custody remand of Purohit, who has been accused of playing a lead role in planning the bomb blast conspiracy and helping the other accused with funds and training, ends Saturday, sources said the court may take up the complaint earlier.
Dalvi's complaint was received by a holiday court as the regular court was closed on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti. Supporters of another bomb blast case accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur including her sister have already complained she was tortured both before and after her formal arrest. Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, another accused in the case, had also complained of torture when he was produced before the court earlier this month. He had even offered to bare the wound marks in the court. Six people were killed in the blast in the Maharashtra town of Malegaon Sep 29.
