A Delhi court on Friday asked the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation to explain how the confessional statement of Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Ajmer dargah blast case, was leaked to the media. The court asked the probe agency to file its response on February 15. The court's order came during the hearing of an application filed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary Devendra Gupta, seeking registration of an FIR against CBI and 'Tehelka' magazine.
The confessions of Swami Aseemanand may have brought a certain about of clarity in the Malegaon and the Samjhauta Express blasts cases, but the Mecca Masjid blast case remains far from being solved, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Swami Aseemanand, the main accused in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast, was on Thursday remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a court in Panchkula, Haryana.The counsel for the right-wing group Abhinav Bharat member said the National Investigation Agency told the court that it did not require further custody of the accused as it has completed its investigation.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat admitted there were some members in the Sangh who had radical views but they were told to leave the organisation since this "extremism" will not work in the outfit.
In an apparent reference to Swami Aseemanand's confession to a special court in New Delhi, a statement issued by the Foreign Office said the Indian diplomat's "attention was drawn to the recent reports in the media on the investigations into the Samjhauta Express blasts of February 2007".
Aseemanand, who confessed to being in the know of the Mecca Masjid, Samjhauta, Ajmer and Malegaon blasts, also stated prior to his confession that it was a boy named Abdul Kaleem, who inspired him to make this confession before the magistrate
Striking a strident note, the Congress has renewed its attack on the Sangh Parivar asking the government to take strong and tough action against them, in the wake of a top Sangh functionary Swami Aseemanand admitting that he and his colleagues were involved in the Samjhauta Express blasts.
The National Investigation Agency, which has been struggling to collect evidence in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, is likely to quiz some of the Maharashtra ATS officials who had probed the case.
Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, was on Friday remanded in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation for seven days by a local court.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda onh Friday equated Khap Panchayats with organisations like Non-Governmental Organisations, saying that they are part of state's culture.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday informed a court hearing the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case that it would file additional charge sheet against the nine accused on November 4.
Hindu right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand, an accused in several terror cases, has moved a court seeking to withdraw his application to turn a witness in the Ajmer Dargah blast case even as the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad on Friday said it is planning to file a chargesheet against him on April 8.
With the terror trail leading to Hindu right-wing groups in 2006 Malegaon bombings, the Central Bureau of Investigation is now planning to question members of such outfits including those arrested in connection with the blasts in Maharashtra's power-loom city two years later.
Nine Muslim men, who were arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blasts and in jail for the past four years, on Monday moved a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court seeking bail citing Swami Aseemanand's confession pointing to a right-wing group's involvement in the attack that killed 36 persons.
While the National Investigation Agency is convinced that Swami Aseemanand, a Hindu right-wing leader, was involved in the Samjhauta Express blasts that killed 68 people in 2007, they feel that he is not the mastermind behind the attack. The swami's confessions point out that though he was aware of the attack, it was planned by Sunil Joshi, Aseemanand's alleged right hand man, who was murdered in mysterious circumstances in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh on December 29, 2007.
The 2007 Ajmer Shariff blast was carried out to deter Hindus from going to the famous shrine and the act was carried out by a group of extremists whose members belonged to both majority and minority communities, Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the case has said in his confessional statement.
Nine persons, who have been lodged in jail for the last four years on charges of their involvement in the Malegaon bomb blasts, are preparing the sue the Anti-Terrorism Squad for allegedly falsely implicating them in the case, following the confession by Swami Aseemanand of his involvement in it. The blasts that rocked the textile town in September 2006 had resulted in the death of 32 people.
Swami Aseemanand, arrested in the Samjhauta train blast case, on Monday claimed he was not involved in the bombing and was made to give a confession under duress by the National Investigation Agency.
There seems to be no respite for Swami Aseemanand, who also goes by the alias Jatin Chatterjee. After being quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the 2007 Ajmer and Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, in which he is an accused, the National Investigating Agency is now saying that they want to interrogate the swami in connection with the Samjautha train blasts.
While there is a debate still on whether Swami Aseemanand actually confessed on his own after being touched by the conduct of a former accused in the Mecca Masjid case or that he did so under duress, the fact remains that there is a ray of hope among many youths who continue to languish in jails after being implicated in the above mentioned cases.
Shah defended the government for not filing an appeal against the acquittal of all four accused, including the radical right-wing's Swami Aseemanand, in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts case.
As vice president and ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankar is inheriting a troubled legacy. Although the government faces no real numerical challenges in the Upper House, political and legal challenges are there aplenty.
Special NIA court judge Jagdeep Singh posted the matter for March 14 after a Pakistani woman filed a petition claiming she had some evidence relevant to the case.
Wearing multiple identities of religious preacher, science student and terror accused, the saffron robed Aseemanand, once known as the most wanted man in India, was the alleged link between the series of three bombings that ripped through India in 2007.
Seven years after Samjhauta Express blasts, a court on Friday framed murder, sedition and other charges against right wing Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and three others paving the way for start of trial.
Swami Aseemanand appears to have become a habitual retractor. After his explosive interview in to the Caravan, the accused in the Samjhauta Express, Hyderabad Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Dargah blasts denied speaking to the magazine.
Jawid said he also did not get compensation of Rs 10 lakh announced by the Centre as the DNA samples between Shabbir and his family did not match.
Pakistan on Friday summoned India's deputy high commissioner and lodged a protest over the Indian government's failure to contest the conditional bail to Swami Assemanand, chargesheeted in connection with the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast that killed 68 people, including 42 Pakistanis.
The agency said that it could not find any 'strong evidence' against Indresh Kumar, Sadhvi Pragya, Rajendra and Ramesh alias Prince.
Swami Aseemanand, an accused in 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case, was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court but he is unlikely to come out of jail as he is facing a trial in two other blast cases.
Triggering controversy over capital punishment to Yakub Memon in Mumbai blasts case, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday sought to know whether the perpetrators of demolition of disputed structure in Ayodhya, communal riots of Mumbai and Gujarat and other such sensational cases would get a similar punishment.
Latching on to reports about Swami Aseemanand's claim about RSS leadership "sanctioning" some terror acts, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday flayed the National Investigation Agency for not yet taking in Sangh leader Indresh Kumar for interrogation.
On March 8, the court had convicted Patel, Gupta and Joshi in the case while acquitting others including Swami Aseemanand.
The federal probe agency has wrapped up only one terror case since its inception in 2009. Vicky Nanjappa reports
"If Hindus had been terrorists, then no other terrorists have existed."
Pakistan on Thursday said it was serious in the trial of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and in bringing the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack to justice even as it rejected reports the US had shared any "critical" evidence with it about the mastermind.
The court also observed that working for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh does not make a person communal and anti-social.
Shah said before the Yogi Adityanath dispensation assumed office, Uttar Pradesh was known for 'goonda raj' and bad law and order. '...Yogi government has established rule of law,' he said.
'He never had anything to substantiate his allegations while dropping names. It was done more to divert the investigation,' NIA sources tell Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday told a Mumbai court it has found no evidence to link nine Muslims arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case to the terror attack, a move that could see them walk free.
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