Aseemanand, 4 others charged in Samjhauta Express blast

The NIA is also probing the role of Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya in the incident that led to the deaths of 68 Pakistanis

Aseemanand, 4 others charged in Samjhauta Express blast

The NIA is also probing the role of Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya in the incident that led to the deaths of 68 Pakistanis

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) yesterday filed its chargesheet against radical Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in a court here, holding them responsible for the blasts in Samjhauta Express near Panipat town in Haryana in February 2007 that killed 68 people.

The NIA chargesheet stated that Swami Aseemanand was the mastermind of the 2007 blast

The chargesheet, filed in the court of officiating NIA Special Judge Kanchan Mahi, stated that Aseemanand was the mastermind of the blasts and instigated others to carry out the terrorist act.
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Aseemanand had, last month, told the court here that he had no role in the Samjhauta Express bombing in which the victims were mainly Pakistanis.

NIA lawyer Ahmed Khan said, "The role of Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya in the case is also being investigated."
Assemanad accused the NIA of torturing him mentally and physically to extort the statement from him.

Others named in the chargesheet are Lokesh Sharma, who has already been arrested, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra, both of whom are absconding, and Sunil Joshi, who is now dead.

Aseemanand, a member of the right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, was arrested by the CBI on November 19 last year from Haridwar in Uttarakhand for his alleged role in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad in which 14 people were killed.

The NIA had questioned Aseemanand about his role in the Samjhauta Express blasts on February 18, 2007, at Diwana village near the industrial town of Panipat, 160 km from here.

The bombing took place in two bogies of Samjhauta Express, a peace train between India and Pakistan.
The train was going from Delhi to Attari, the last station on the Indian side. The passengers were supposed to board the train to Lahore on February 19.