The Indian Army has cleared Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, acquitted last year in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, for promotion to brigadier, which will allow him to continue in the army for two additional years.

Purohit, then a lieutenant colonel in military intelligence, was the first serving army officer to face terror charges. He remained an accused for nearly 17 years in the high-profile case, which took a toll on the army’s image and embarrassed the top brass.

The blast in Muslim-majority Malegaon, Maharashtra, had killed six people and injured 101 near a mosque.

After his acquittal on July 31 last year, Purohit, 54, was reinstated by the army and promoted to colonel.

Sources in the army headquarters on Friday said he had been cleared for promotion to brigadier days after the armed forces tribunal intervened to halt his scheduled retirement on March 31, 2026, allowing his pending case for promotion to be reviewed.

Purohit had approached the tribunal soon after his acquittal, claiming his career progression had been affected by the prolonged trial. He argued that the delay in the judicial process had denied him a fair opportunity for promotion within the army.

“He will now serve the army for another two years as a brigadier since the retirement age for that rank is 56,” an army official said.

Army sources were tight-lipped on Purohit’s current posting and responsibilities.

Investigations into the Malegaon blast had unearthed a trail linking Hindu extremists — for the first time — to terror attacks on the Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan (October 2007), Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (May 2007) and the Samjhauta Express (February 2007).

All seven Malegaon blast accused, including Purohit and former BJP parliamentarian Pragya Singh Thakur, were acquitted by a special National Investigation Agency court on July 31 last year. The court had said the prosecution had failed to provide “reliable and cogent” evidence.

However, the NIA faced allegations that it had weakened the case after the Narendra Modi government came to power in May 2014. In 2015, special public prosecutor Rohini Salian quit the case alleging pressure from a senior agency official to “go soft” on the accused.

Purohit was alleged to have helped found the Pune-based Hindu radical outfit Abhinav Bharat, which was campaigning against “a rampaging Islamic tide” and whose alleged objective was to turn India into a Hindu nation called Aryavart.

He was suspended soon after his arrest in November 2008 on the charge of involvement in the Malegaon blast. He spent nine years in custody before receiving bail in September 2017.

He was later reinstated in the army without being entrusted with any official responsibility until his acquittal. Purohit had served in Jammu and Kashmir.