Samjhauta touches RSS,Indresh to be called again

Aseemanand,who is in NIA custody,is said to have confessed to his involvement in the Samjhauta blasts,and said that he was aware of other terrorist incidents including the bombing at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid. The alleged confession has been put up on the web site of the newsmagazine Tehelka.

On the night of February 18,2007,bombs went off in two coaches of the Samjhauta Express when the train was near Panipat,killing 68 people,most of them Pakistanis (picture on right). The alleged statement is,however,silent on how the bombs were planted on the train,and by whom.

In his statement,Aseemanand allegedly says,“We (Sunil Joshi,Pragya Thakur and three others) met at the house of Bharat Bhai in Valsad in June 2006… Sunil Joshi advised that we should plant bombs in Samjhauta Express which ferries between India and Pakistan as most Pakistanis travel on it… Sandeep Dangre took the responsibility of arranging chemicals…

“Three groups were formed… I was asked to arrange for the finance while Dangre was tasked to manufacture bombs… In February 2007,I met Bharat Bhai and Joshi at a temple in Balpur where Joshi told me that soon I will hear good news… Two days later,when I went to Bharat Bhai’s house where Joshi and Pragya Singh were already present,I came to know that a blast in Samjhauta has already taken place.

“After the Mecca Masjid blast,Joshi told me that Muslim men used in the operation were provided by Indreshji…. I told him that if he was ever caught,Indresh’s name would come up,and his life would be in danger from Indresh and the Muslim men…”

Joshi was murdered in December 2007. He would take his orders from Indresh Kumar,Aseemanand has allegedly claimed.

Aseemanand’s court-appointed lawyer Manvir Rathee,who is representing him in a Panchkula (Haryana) court against the NIA,however,expressed doubt over the purported statement.

Rathee said he had spoken to Aseemanand on January 3. “He told me he had been taken to a Delhi court for recording his statement. He continued to deny any hand in the blasts and said he had been forced to make a confessional statement. Let the trial begin,” Rathee said.

The NIA-CBI move to call in Indresh again is likely to mount pressure on the BJP,which is set to deliberate over this issue at its national executive meeting commencing in Guwahati from tomorrow.

Deploring “Sangh terrorism”,the Congress today stopped short of seeking a ban on the RSS,with its spokesman Shakeel Ahmed saying: “Ban it or disband it,but take firm action. New facts have come to light and the government should definitely take action after examining them.”

According to the statement,Aseemanand claimed,“In 2005,Indreshji met me at Pumpa Sarovar at Shabri Dham where Joshi was also present. He told me that he has given the ‘task’ to Joshi and he will be providing support to him… Later,Indreshji gave Rs 50,000 to Joshi at Nagpur in front of Bharat Bhai…”

The move to jointly quiz Indresh Kumar comes days after CBI wrote to the Home Ministry asking it to share information on the probes by the Rajasthan and Mahashtra ATSes into the Malegaon and Ajmer blasts. The CBI wrote the letter after the first round of questioning on December 23.

“We will question RSS leader Kumar as he has emerged as a key suspect in the Samjhauta conspiracy. He is also the common link in all key cases… His names figures in the confessions of the arrested accused in the Malegaon (Lt Col Prasad Purohit) and Ajmer blasts (Devendra Gupta),” said a top officer.

Kumar’s questioning,sources said,is also likely to throw up leads in the hunt for the two absconding suspects,Sandeep Dangre and Ramchandra Kalsangra.

When contacted by The Indian Express,Kumar said,“It is a political conspiracy against me. Aseemanand’s statement was made in front of a CBI officer which is illegal under section 164 CrPC and puts the role of CBI and the magistrate under the scanner. It should also be probed how a statement made in front of a magistrate was leaked.”