Divide and spread terror

In a confessional statement, Swami Aseemanand accepted that he and Sunil Joshi decided to split into three different groups and work separately to avoid arrests

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Swami Aseemanand, along with other members of his group, decided to work in smaller groups to escape arrests.

This fact was revealed in a confessional statement made by Aseemanand in December in front of a special magistrate in Delhi.

They decided to divide in three groups and work in a manner in which they would be unaware of the workings of other groups.

In May 2006, Aseemanand along with Pragya Thakur Singh, late Sunil Joshi, Sandeep Dange, Raamjee and two others had a meeting at Valsad at Bharatbhai's place.

At the meeting, Joshi told Aseemanand about the tactic of working in three different groups.
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They finalised that no one would know the name and work of other groups. This tactic was adopted by them to avoid arrests in case one of them was caught. Joshi had decided to coordinate between all the three groups.

In the meeting Aseemanand spoke about the blasts to be carried out at Malegaon, Hyderabad, Ajmer and Aligarh Muslim University. The recce work was handed to Sunil Joshi who then discussed carrying out the blasts on the Samjhauta Express.

According to Aseemanand, Joshi later said that they would split into three groups: Aseemanand's group would provide financial support and other assistance; the second group would get material for making bombs; the third group would plant bombs at the target locations.

Later Joshi said that he would take the responsibility of following the other groups and would coordinate with them.

Aseemanand said he was asked for financial help. Dange was told to make bombs and others were asked to plant them. Joshi strictly instructed everybody to not speak about other groups. Aseemanand said he was not aware about the dates of the blasts or who carried them out.

Elementu00a0of surprise
In 2006, after the Malegaon blast, Joshi met Aseemanand and told him that their men carried out the Malegaon blast. Aseemanand did not believe him as the police had already arrested a few people in that case but Joshi convinced him. Similarly, Joshi informed himu00a0 about the Samjhauta Express and Hyderabad blasts.