Purohit helped Pandey start terror wing: ATS

BANGALORE: Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit, accused in the Malegaon blasts, revealed during a narco-analysis test in Bangalore that he had helped Swami Amritanand alias Dayanand Pandey — alleged mentor of sadhvi Pragya Singh — to start a terror wing, sources said. The ATS claims Pandey, who has been arrested, is the mastermind of the Malegaon terror attack in September.

An ATS officer said that Purohit revealed that Dayanand introduced him to Pragya Singh, and asked him to provide logistic help to carry out terror attacks in several places. “Swami had asked Purohit to help in training around 800 cadres to execute attacks in different parts of the country,” he said.

Pandey who had an ashram in Dhand in Ahmedabad,  provided shelter to many anti-social elements associated with the attacks, Purohit told the interrogators. Based on Purohit’s revelation, an ATS team nabbed Pandey, who had taken shelter at his advocate brother’s house at Kanpur.