Ajmer: Swami Aseemanand, who had exposed the roles of Hindu terrorists in the 2006 Malegaon, 2007 Samjhauta Express and other terrorist attacks during the same period, has been found not guilty of any link with the Ajmer Dargah blasts near Jaipur in 2007.
Along with Swami Aseemanad, Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court on Wednesday also acquitted 07 others. The Special Court however convicted three others accused for the bombing which killed three people and injured at least 15 at the hugely-popular Dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.
Those convicted by the NIA Special Court are Bhavesh Patel, Devendra Gupta and Sunil Joshi who was murdered in December 2007. Three of the total 14 accused are still missing and on the run.
Among those acquitted in the case are Harshad Solanki, Lokesh Sharma, Mehul Kumar, Mukesh Vasani, Bharat Bhai and Chandrashekar. Chandrashekhar is out on bail while others are in judicial custody.
The quantum of sentence will be announced on March 16, defence counsel Jagdish Rana told reporters.
Hearing in this case was completed in the first week of January in which 149 witnesses were examined and 451 documents were produced before the court. The court was due to announce the verdict on February 25 but had postponed it to March 8.
A member of right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, Assemanand has been in jail since December 2010. He was also named as an accused in Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast case.
On December 26, 2010, he was arrested by CBI from Haridwar for his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast in which 14 persons were killed.
But he hit the headlines in January 2011 when he exposed the roles of Hindu terrorists in the 2006 Malegaon, 2007 Samjhuata Express, Ajmer and other blasts.
Swami Aseemannad had given his confessional statement in front of a Magistrate in New Delhi and admitted RSS Pracharaks' role in executing blasts at various places including 2006 Malegaon blast and the blast in Samjhauta Express.
"It was not Muslim boys but a team of RSS pracharaks who exploded bombs in Malegaon in 2006 and 2008, on the Samjhauta Express in 2007, in Ajmer Sharif in 2007 and Mecca Masjid in 2007", Swami Aseemannad said in his confessional statement.
Swami's confession reportedly came after he met some of the Muslims arrested in Mecca Masjid blast case. According to the reports, Swami was impressed by their kindness and hence decided to expose the terror attack conspiracies.
Aseemanad's confessional statement also changed the course of Malegaon blasts for which the ATS had arrested Muslim youths. A reinestigation by the NIA was ordered and the Muslim youths arrested in the case were later discharged.
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