According to a Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) official, Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit has been in connection with the September 29 Malegaon blasts, under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Activities (MCOCA). This is the first time a military officer has been arrested under an anti-terror law.

ATS Additional Commissioner of Police, Parambir Singh said that Purohit was interrogated two days back at the Maharashtra and Gujarat Area (M&G) headquarters, and was arrested on Wednesday. Singh, however, refused to reveal Purohit's role in the blasts.

Lt Col Purohit happens to be one of the founder members of the right wing Hindu radical outfit 'Abhinav Bharat', and is the eighth person to be arrested in the Malegaon bomb blast case that killed five persons,. The other seven arrested include Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan Singh Kalsangram, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, Major Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay (retd), Sameer Kulkarni, Rakesh Dattaram Dhavde and Ajay Rahirkar.

The army officer, who came under the scanner for his alleged role in the blasts, was named during the interrogation of the other suspects. Lt Col Purohit was stationed at the Army Education Corps Training College and Centre at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, where he is doing an Arabic language course.