IT was a major blow to National Investigating Agency (NIA), probing the alleged involvement of so-called Hindu outfits in Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Samjhauta Express and Ajmer blast cases, when Swami Aseemanand, made out a key accuse by NIA, turned hostile in Ajmer court recently, where he said that his, confessional statement was extracted by torturing him mentally and physically by the probing agency.
In his forced confessional statement, Aseemanand was asked to admit that some RSS functionaries, including Shri Indresh Kumar, were part of the conspiracy in carrying out the blasts.
This denial of his earlier so called confessional statement forced the agency to backtrack and rethink over its further move to quiz some RSS functionaries, as was done by CBI. In fact, its move to implicate RSS in these cases was primarily based on the confessional statement of Aseemanand.
Aeemanand also made an application before the court in which he sought to withdraw his confessional statement, which he had sent to the court from Ajmer jail, about two months back. He told the court that NIA and Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squid (ATS) not only tortured him to make the confessional statement admitting his involvement in these blasts, but also threatened to implicate his family members if he refused to do so. “When I asked for a lawyer for my defence, agency sleuths not only declined for the same but also said if I want to save myself, I should become an approver and say whatever was told to me,” Aseemanand told the court.
During his appearance before the courts in Delhi and Panchkula, NIA officials remained around the courts to keep a close watch to ensure that he would not be able to make an independent statement, he told the court.
ATS was supposed to submit its chargesheet about Dargah blast case, but it had sought more time for the same. The same was granted but court directed it to come with chargesheet during the next hearing.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan government is formally sending a letter to central government to hand over the Dargah blast case to NIA. As the Home Department of the state government has approved the proposal, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot would soon send this formal request to the Centre, according to official sources. In another development, District Collector of Ajmer refused to grant permission to Uma Bharati, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, to meet Aseemanand in jail.
Uma Bharati, who landed in Ajmer recently said she wanted to meet Swami Aseemanand, after the reports that he was being tortured by the sleuths as was done in the case of Sadhvi Pragya by Maharashtra ATS.
