Samjhauta blast: supplementary chargesheet in a month

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to file a supplementary chargesheet against at least two more suspects in the Samjhauta Express blast case within a month.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to file a supplementary chargesheet against at least two more suspects in the Samjhauta Express blast case within a month.

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This was indicated during in-camera arguments at the special NIA court in Panchkula on Monday when the prosecution counsel Ahmed Khan told special NIA court judge Subhash Mehla that steps were being taken to file the supplementary chargesheet against Sadhvi Pragya and Devinder Gupta before the case comes up for hearing on August 17.

Sadhvi Pragya, currently in Malegaon jail in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blasts, and Devinder Gupta, in jail in connection with the Ajmer Dargah blast, were named suspects in the Samjhauta blast case in the previous NIA chargesheet. The blast on the India-Pakistan Samjhauta Express train on February 18, 2007 at Diwana village near the industrial town of Panipat in Haryana killed 68 people.

Aseemanand and Lokesh Sharma, the two accused arrested in the case, were presented before the court on Monday. The NIA filed its chargesheet against Aseemanand, Lokesh, Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalasangra and Sunil Joshi on June 20. While Dange and Kalasangra are absconding, Joshi was found murdered. The chargesheet says Aseemanand was the blast mastermind and instigated others to carry out the terrorist act. Dange and Kalasangra have been declared proclaimed offenders in the case.

I’m innocent: Aseemanand

Aseemanand told the media outside the court complex that he was innocent and the NIA had no proof against him and that his arrest was illegal. “There is a conspiracy to implicate me,” he said. “They (NIA officials) are torturing and pressurising me to give wrong statements.”