Samjhauta Express blast case update

The National Investigation Agency on Monday filed a chargesheet in a Panchkula court against five Hindu radicals including Swami Aseemanand in the Samjhauta Express train blast case and mentioned RSS senior leader Indresh Kumar as one of the “suspects”. Though Kumar is not an accused in the case, as NIA has so far not found any corroborative evidence of his direct link, the agency referred to him thrice in the chargesheet. It said that his involvement in the conspiracy is “highly suspected”. The blast in the Pakistan-bound train took place on February 18, 2007 near Panipat in Haryana. Sixty-eight people including 43 Pakistani nationals were killed and 12 others injured in the incident. Samjhauta Express is a bi-weekly train that runs on Wednesdays and Sundays between Delhi-Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan. Kumar’s name figures as a “suspect” on the basis of his meeting with the perpetrators twice during 2005-06 when they “discussed about jihadi attacks on Hindu places of worships and the need to give befitting replies”. These meetings were followed by similar secret gatherings of select people which finally culminated in terror attacks not only on Samjhauta Express, but also blasts in Ajmer dargah, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) and twice in Malegaon under the radicals’ “bomb ka badla bomb” plan. NIA had also referred to Kumar as a “suspect” in the Ajmer blast case. Besides Swami Aseemanand (Naba Kumar Sarkar), the four others chargesheeted include slain RSS activist Sunil Joshi, property dealer Lokesh Sharma, engineer Sandeep Dange and electrician Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Ramji. The 24-page chargesheet claimed that “investigation has brought out strong suspicion about the role of some more persons”. Further probe would continue.