Samjhauta accused claims he shot at Delhi prof Geelani in ’05

Alleged Samjhauta Express bomber Rajender Choudhary has "confessed" to being behind the firing on Parliament attack accused S A R Geelani. Choudhary, who is currently in NIA custody, has reportedly told investigators that he along with Ajmer dargah and Mecca Masjid bombings accused Lokesh Sharma shot at Geelani on February 8, 2005 in Delhi's Vasant Vihar, where Geelani had gone to meet his lawyer. The Delhi University teacher had suffered serious injuries.

Choudhary is learnt to have also confessed that the attack was carried out on the instructions of slain RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi. They reportedly started planning the attack in 2003, soon after the Delhi High Court acquitted Geelani in the Parliament attack case of 2001.

Geelani told The Indian Express that Delhi Police had never contacted him after the attack. "They never told me who were the suspects. Instead they always treated me as a suspect. My family was harassed. They also confiscated my car and laptop."

The Delhi Police Crime had drawn a blank in the case despite several years of probe.

The National Investigation Agency has informed Delhi Police about Choudhary's "confession". Delhi Police is now expected to seek custody of Lokesh Sharma, who is currently in Jaipur prison in connection with the 2007 Ajmer blasts.

According to Choudhary, Joshi and other members of the group were angry over Geelani's acquittal in the Parliament attack case and wanted to avenge the incident. Lokesh Sharma and Choudhary travelled to Delhi several times reportedly to keep a watch on his movements. After the shooting, both had managed to escape.

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