On a day when Lt Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit got an interim relief from the Supreme Court, Republic TV has accessed proof that the Congress party and the UPA government knew that Lt Col Purohit was only doing his job, and kept his superiors in the loop at every stage. The Army document is a Republic TV Super Exclusive.

For 10 years, he’s been labelled a ‘terror accused’. Republic has in its possession documents that prove Lt Colonel Purohit was not performing any unlawful terror activity. The secret Army file with Republic proved Lt Col Purohit was on state duty and the Army knew about it. It proves that a 10 year report was lying with the Congress and they concealed it. willfully.

Republic TV has accessed the smoking gun, a confidential document dated April 2, 2018, which proves that Lt Col Purohit was on an official military duty, gathering sensitive military intelligence information when he was picked up in October 2008.

The secret Army file number A/31687/PUROHIT/MI-9 written from Directorate General of Military Intelligence has been accessed for the first time in years. The letter, which was written in response to Detachment 3, Southern Command Liaison Unit’s application in December 2017 and was sent to the Chief of Army Staff, makes references to communication under the Congress government.

The Directorate General of Military Intelligence, in point 2 of this letter, refers to Rakesh Maria, the then ATS chief's query in March 2011 asking the army for details pertaining to inputs, letters shared or written by the army regarding meetings and terrorist related incidents in the case involving Lt Col Purohit.

Rakesh Maria's query on March 24, 2011 came 9 days after Suresh Kalmadi was questioned over the CWG scam. It was at a time when the congress needed a distraction.

Point 3 of the letter accessed by Republic TV reveals the response given by the Directorate General of Military Intelligence, 5 days after Rakesh Maria's letter. This response sent in 5 days was incomplete and without a consequent response from other Army offices.

The response said that there was ‘no input available with the office regarding any official communication pertaining to any terrorist related inputs or information about meetings’ in the case of Lt Colonel Purohit.

This ‘no input available’ response given in 5 days was used as the gospel truth against Lt Colonel Purohit. The Directorate General of Military Intelligence wrote to concerned army offices for more information on the matter but the Congress government chose not to follow up.

Nevertheless, four lines in page 2 of the letter prove that the entire Congress leadership was lying about Lt Colonel Purohit. Line 1 of the Army letter - concludes that ‘Lt Col Purohit was operating a source network through which he had obtained intelligence inputs’. This is in contradiction to what we were led to believe that ‘there were no inputs’.

Line 2 of the army letter concludes that ‘Lt Colonel Purohit's superiors at the appropriate level were informed of the inputs provided by the source’. However, the Congress never revealed the source or the fact that Sudhakar Chaturvedi, who was named an accused in the case, was actually a ‘source’ who worked for the Army.

Point 3 A of the document reveals that the UPA government had access to this documented evidence on Sudhakar Chaturvedi. The confidential Army document gets into detail about a report received in January 2008, 10 months before the arrest of Lt Col Purohit. The report said that 'One of the sources was Mr Sudhakar Chaturvedi' who was introduced as an active source. The report adds that Chaturvedi, named an accused under Congress was actually ‘providing details on political and religious activities in the area of responsibility'. All of this is documented in the Army letter sent by the DDGMI this month.

Sudhakar Chaturvedi was granted bail one month after Lt. Colonel Purohit was released in 2017. Now, Chaturvedi has revealed how Congress chose to suppress the truth even after having full knowledge of the case. He told Republic TV:

"Several backstabbers have infiltrated our police and military system. They are scheming to plot against our Army men. They are unaware of the consequences. We suffered in jail for 9 years. We faced a lot of turmoil but how can we compensate for the damage our religion faced because of the term Hindu terror? For 9 years no head of department was aware of the facts. Now truth has emerged (unclear) in 2008, a letter was written by the Additional CP of ATS to the Head of Commandant, asking if Lt. Col Purohit had a source," said Chaturvedi.

In the case of Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, his family has struggled for 10 years. He has lost 10 years of his life in prison. He has lost 10 years of his life with his wife and children. It’s the greatest betrayal of an Army officer.