Indian Army Promotes Purohit to Brigadier After Acquittal

The Indian Army has promoted Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit to the rank of Brigadier, marking a significant milestone for the officer acquitted last year in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. The decision, announced on April 10, 2026, follows intervention by the Armed Forces Tribunal, which stayed his scheduled retirement on March 31, 2026, to allow consideration of his promotion claim.

Purohit, a military intelligence officer commissioned in the Maratha Light Infantry in 1994 and later transferred to the intelligence corps, was arrested in November 2008 as one of the accused in the Malegaon blast. The explosion occurred on September 29, 2008, when a bomb attached to a motorcycle detonated near a mosque in the Bhikku Chowk area of Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing six people and injuring 95 others. Initially investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, the case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency in 2011. Purohit and six co-accused, including former parliamentarian Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhankar Dhar Dwivedi, and Sameer Kulkarni, faced charges under the Unlawful Activities...