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Samjhauta: Aseemanand charged
After a four-year probe, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) has submitted a chargesheet in the Samjhauta blast case against right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand and four others. HT reports.
After a four-year probe, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) has submitted a chargesheet in the Samjhauta blast case against right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand and four others.
Aseemanand, a member of Abhinav Bharat, is in Ambala prison. He was also allegedly involved in the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad in 2007 that killed 14 people.
The chargesheet was submitted at the NIA court, Panchkula, on Monday. The hearing will begin on July 1. The NIA said it would file a supplementary chargesheet against Hindutva activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh.
In February 2007, 68 people died in blasts triggered in Samjhauta Express, the Delhi-Attari train for Lahore, near Panipat. Among the deceased were 43 Pakistan nationals.
According to the chargesheet, Aseemanand was upset with the attacks on Akshardham temple in Gujarat, Raghunath temple in Jammu and Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi. He proposed a “bomb ka badla bomb” (bomb for bomb) theory. “Samjhauta was chosen as most passengers are Pakistani citizens,” the chargesheet said.
