Samjhuata blast: NIA chargesheets Aseemanand

New Delhi: Four months after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over all terror cases relating to Hindu extremism, the agency on Monday filed the chargesheet in the 2007 Samjhauta blast.

The Samjhauta Express was bombed killing 68 people, several of them Pakistani nationals.

Swami Aseemanand, who first allegedly confessed to his role and later withdrew his confession - has been named a key conspirator. In an embarrassment to the RSS, the accused also includes Pracharak Sunil Joshi who was murdered in Madhya Pradesh.

Days before the Indo-Pak foreign secy talks, the NIA filed a chargesheet in the Samjhuata blast case.

Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra - both absconding - are among the accused as also Sunil Joshi, the RSS prchararak who was shot dead in Devas in 2007.

"Aseemanand ia the main conspirator," said Ahmed khan, NIA counsel.

The chargesheet states that Aseemanand was quite upset with the Jehadi attacks on temples - Akshardham (Gujarat), Raghunath Mandir (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan Mandir (Varanasi). He used to 'give vent to' his feelings while discussing with Sunil Joshi and his associates.

Over a period of time, they developed a deep vengeance against not only the Jehadi terrorists but unfortunately against an entire minority community as such. As a result, Aseemanand propounded a "bomb ka badla bomb" theory. Samjhauta train was particularly chosen, as most of the passengers who travel in it are Pakistani citizens, says the chargesheet.

The NIA investigators who took over all seven terror cases involving Hindu extremists groups, believe there is a common thread running through all the cases starting 2003.

The last time the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met in Thimphu, Islamabad indulged in some aggressive posturing, saying that India's handling of the Samjhauta case showed it lacked the courage to unearth the culpability of Hindu extremists. The filing of this chargesheet will come handy when Nirupama Rao talks terror with her counterpart Salman Bashir later this week.

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