PTI

New Delhi, Nov 6: Army's "prestige has been hurt" after the arrest of its serving officer in connection with the Malegaon blasts, the deputy Army chief said on Thursday, but stressed that it was a "freak" incident.

"Indian Army's prestige has been hurt after our officer's name came up in Malegaon blast case," Lt Gen S P S Dhillon told reporters on the sidelines of Sainik Sammelan on 3/3 Gurkha Rifles representation in UN peacekeeping mission in Congo.

Lt Col Srikant Purohit was yesterday arrested in Mumbai for allegedly supplying money and explosives in the September 29 Malegaon blast. The officer was posted at the Army Corps Training College and Centre at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh.

The deputy Army chief said Army will take action after it receives a report from the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS).

Lt Gen Dhillon said that involvement of its serving Lieutenant Colonel was a "freak" incident and Army had its own mechanism for keeping a check on these kind of activities by its officers.

"This is a freak incident. We have our own mechanism for keeping a check on these kind of things," he added.

Army had last week given permission to ATS to interrogate Purohit.

On the participation of Indian troops' in peacekeeping operations in Congo, Lt Gen Dhillon said the country's troops have been performing well in UN operations there and will continue to do so.

A Lt Col and a jawan were injured in the attacks by UNDP fighters in support of Gen Nkunda in Congo. Rebel forces had fired five rockets on Indian troops damaging two of their armoured personnel carriers.

India has the largest representation in UN's MONUC mission in Congo comprising a brigade in Goma with over 4,500 troops. A total of 17,000 blue berets are deployed to maintain and enforce peace there.