Took 3-4 yrs to convince party: Digvijay

Senior Congress party leader Digvijay Singh has said it took him three-four years to convince his party about terror activities allegedly done at the behest of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.

Senior Congress party leader Digvijay Singh has said it took him three-four years to convince his party about terror activities allegedly done at the behest of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

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He also attacked the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government for not handing over the probe into the murder of RSS activist Sunil Joshi, accused in the Samjhauta Express blast case, to National Investigating Agency (NIA).

"It took me three to four years to convince my government (that RSS is involved in terror activities)," he said.

He was replying to questions on recent reports on 'Sanghi' terror when he had claimed to have sufficient evidence about it while he was the Madhya Pradesh chief minister between 1993-2003.

"The key to whole RSS terror is murder of Sunil Joshi. If the NIA does not investigate the case, the truth would never come to light," he said.

Joshi, who was shot dead at Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) in December 2007, was a key suspect in blast in Samjhauta Express - the rail link between India and Pakistan - that killed more than 65 people.

Singh, Congress party's general secretary and incharge of Uttar Pradesh, raised doubts over the authenticity of 2008 Batla House encounter by Delhi Police Special Cell in which two Indian Mujahideen suspects Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid were killed.

"I have seen the photographs... Can we shoot five bullets on somebody's head in an encounter. This is not an encounter... I went to the Prime Minister and an enquiry by National Human Rights Commission was ordered. NHRC should have called the aggrieved party which it did not, which is my complaint," he said.

Referring to his visit to Azamgarh, the town in Uttar Pradesh from where some of the alleged terrorists involved in the Batla encounter hail, the Congress leader said "When I went to Azamgarh I was opposed both by RSS and Ulemna Council."

"It worries me that there are educated Muslims boys (suspected to be involved in terrorists acts)...If these sort of allegations are put, it will be dangerous...I told them (victims families) that what I can give you is a fair and speedy trial. Then I requested the government to club all the cases together," he said.

The NIA is probing three blast cases - Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif and Malegaon - suspected to be carried out by right-wing activists.