The Nashik Magistrate court on Saturday dismissed an application filed by Lt Col Prasad Purohit's family alleging that he was tortured in the custody of the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The application was dismissed after Purohit himself told the court that he had not been subjected to any physical torture in custody.

Magistrate H K Ganatra observed that according to the six medical reports submitted to the court, there was no evidence to suggest that the accused had been tortured. The magistrate said the ATS had followed all necessary formalities.

The court also rejected an application regarding illegal detention filed by Purohit, who claimed that he was shown arrested on November 5 but had actually been detained by the ATS from October 29.

The court rejected the plea after the ATS submitted an Army certificate issued at the time Purohit was handed over by Army officials to the police, as is required during the arrest of a serving officer of the Armed Forces.

Special Public Prosecutor Ajay Misar informed the court that the police required three more days of Purohit's custody for investigation, saying that most of the custody so far was lost in transit and in conducting forensic tests on him in Bangalore.

Purohit's lawyer Avinash Bhide opposed the police custody saying that the information revealed by the prosecution in court had not been mentioned in the remand application which he claimed was identical to the initial remand application produced in court by the ATS on November 5 seeking his custody.

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