Panchkula: Kamal Chauhan, a disgruntled RSS
worker arrested by the NIA, in connection with the Samjhauta
Express blast, on Friday claimed that he does not know another
accused Aseemanand facing trial in the same case.
Chauhan, who was remanded to NIA custody after being
produced in the court here, told reporters outside the court
premises that "he knows nothing about Aseemanand."
"I don`t know Aseemanand," he told reporters while being
taken by NIA officials to the police van.
On February 14, Chauhan had admitted before media that he
had planted bombs on board Samjhauta Express in 2007 that left
68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead.
Aseemanand too had told media that he did not know
Chauhan.
NIA`s special public prosecutor RK Handa told reporters
that the investigating agency sought 15 days remand of Chauhan
before the judge during the in-camera proceedings.
Handa said that he pleaded that the accused had to be
taken to Madhya Pradesh and other areas for identification of
places where he took training on use of explosive materials.
Besides, the NIA also want to take Chauhan to Madhya
Pardesh for the identification of the shop from where
explosive materials were purchased and the room where the
entire conspiracy took place.
However, the court remanded Chauhan to NIA`s custody till
March two.
Meanwhile, the court asked NIA to produce another accused
Lokesh Sharma before a Mumbai court on February 27.
The court ordered the custody of Sharma to NIA for being
taken to Mumbai as the court there had given the NIA the
production warrant of Lokesh Sharma in connection with his
alleged role in Malegoan 2008 blasts.
Showing no remorse at the previous hearing on February
14, Chauhan had told media that "Yes, I have done it (planting
bombs on the train) on my will."
The NIA had alleged that Indore-based Chauhan had planted
bombs on board Samjhauta Express and had undergone training in
arms and explosives in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
The NIA had alleged that Indore-based Chauhan had planted
bombs on board Samjhauta Express and had undergone training in
arms and explosives in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
The NIA had alleged that Indore-based Chauhan had planted
bombs on board Samjhauta Express and had undergone training in
arms and explosives in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
The NIA had alleged that Indore-based Chauhan had planted
bombs on board Samjhauta Express and had undergone training in
arms and explosives in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
Investigations reveal that Chauhan along with Ramchandra
Kalasangra alias Ramji and Lokesh Sharma, also charged in the
case, had planted the explosives in the train at Old Delhi,
from where the train originates, the NIA had maintained.
Chauhan, believed to be a close aide of Kalsangra and
Sandeep Dange, key accused in the Samjhauta case, was arrested
from Noida on Delhi`s outskirts recently. Born in Mhow, was an
activist of Rashtirya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Chauhan`s counsel Shailender Babbar said that he had been
falsely implicated in the case. There has been no clarity when
he was arrested and for what reasons, he told reporters.
Lokesh Sharma, who was arrested in June 2010 on charges
of participating in the criminal conspiracy of the bombing as
he was present in the meeting where the alleged plot was
hatched, will be produced before a Mumbai court on February
27.
NIA is also looking for Dange`s right hand Kalsangra in
connection with the case.
After a four-year probe, the NIA had on June 20, 2011,
charged Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Lokesh Sharma,
Dange alias Parmanand and Kalasangra for hatching a criminal
conspiracy which resulted in blasts in Samjhauta Express near
Deewana railway station in Haryana`s Panipat district, about
80 km from Delhi.
NIA is also investigating the role of Sadhvi Pragya
Thakur and Indresh Kumar in the blasts.
Swami Aseemanand and Sharma are already in judicial
custody.
Apart from Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three lives
and left 15 others injured, Aseemanand and Sharma are accused
in several other blast cases across the country, including
those at Hyderabad`s Mecca Masjid and Malegaon.
PTI
