Samjhauta blasts: NIA charges Aseemanand, four others

Panchkula (Haryana): The National Investigating Agency (NIA) Monday filed its chargesheet against radical Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in a court here, holding them responsible for the blasts in the Samjhauta Express near Panipat town in Haryana in February 2007 that killed 68 people.

The chargesheet, filed in the court of officiating NIA Special Judge Kanchan Mahi, said that Swami Aseemanand was the mastermind of the blasts and instigated others to carry out the terrorist act, NIA lawyer Ahmed Khan said here.

He said the role of Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya in the case was also being investigated.

Aseemanand had last month told the court here that he had no role in the Samjhauta Express bombing in which the victims were mainly Pakistanis.

He accused the NIA of torturing him mentally and physically to extort the statement from him.

Others named in the chargesheet are Lokesh Sharma, who has already been arrested, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra, both of whom are absconding, and Sunil Joshi, who is now dead.

Aseemanand, a member of the right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, was arrested
by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Nov 19 last year from Haridwar in Uttarakhand for his alleged role in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad in which 14 people were killed.

The NIA had questioned Aseemanand about his role in the Samjhauta Express blasts Feb 18, 2007, at Diwana village near the industrial town of Panipat, 160 km from here.

The bombing took place in two bogies of the Samjhauta Express, a peace train between India and Pakistan.

The train was going from Delhi to Attari, the last station on the Indian side. The passengers were to board the train to Lahore in Pakistan the next day (Feb 19).


 

                                           Home | Top of the Page

Top Stories

Over 200 women fly to Varanasi to fight untouchability

Lalita Nindania, who was once a manual scavenger, flew in a plane for the first time Sunday in what she described as a "flight to liberty".  »

Dalit girl resisting rape stabbed in eye, rights panel mulls action

Captured by Cotton: A story of Dalit girls of Tamil Nadu

  Most Read

Libya claims number of civilians killed in NATO attack

Libyan officials June 19 claimed that a number of civilians had been killed in a NATO air strike in eastern Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday morning. "There was intentional and deliberate targeting   »

Kashmir militancy down by 50 pc: Police

There has been a 50 percent decline in separatist violence in Jammu and Kashmir this year, but crime levels in the state have increased, state Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda here said. Speaking to reporters on the  »

Fed up of militancy: Majority of Kashmiris respond in a survey

  News Pick

Telangana activists begin cooking on Hyderabad roads

Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) Sunday began with its vanta vaarpu or cook-and-eat agitation on Hyderabad roads to draw the attention of the  »

Telangana JAC gears up to cook, eat on Hyderabad roads

Fatah-Hamas summit on unity government postponed

Palestinian officials say a high-profile meeting between the leaders of the rival Fatah and Hamas movements has been called off. Tuesday’s meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas    »

Chhattisgarh medical exam cancelled, 78 held for paper leak

The Chhattisgarh pre-medical test (PMT) was cancelled Sunday after a police crackdown in Bilaspur district led to the arrest of 78 people, mostly students, after the exam paper was leaked. "Six of the 78 arrested who belong to Bihar  »

For them, Father's Day has no relevance

For them, International Father's Day has no relevance. They are a group of "harassed" men who have been denied their parenting rights. These are divorced fathers  »

Dads not just money bags: Changing role of fathers

Picture of the Day

Humayun's Tomb, one of the country's first garden mausoleum and a Unesco World Heritage Site, is getting a makeover to resemble its original state with a unique not-for-profit private-public conservation project partnered by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Dorabji Tata Trust and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

(Photo: IANS)