Panchkula: A special court here on Wednesday
allowed the National Investigation Agency to re-examine the
Samjhauta Express blast samples after the NIA pleaded it wants
to compare them with the explosions at other places such as in
Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer.
The court given its order while hearing the charges
against Swami Assemanand and four others in the 2007 Samjhauta
Express blast case.
As the proceedings in the case are held in-camera,
defence counsel Manveer Rathi later told reporters outside the
court that they had opposed the application from the NIA.
After a four-year-long probe, the NIA had on June 20
charged Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Lokesh Sharma,
Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji with
triggering explosions in the cross-border Samjhauta Express
that left 68 people dead, mostly Pakistanis.
Rathi said they opposed the NIA`s plea before the court
when the agency contended that it wants to re-examine the
material of the blasts, which are kept sealed, to make some
comparisons with blasts that took place at other places.
"We opposed this as we apprehended that they (NIA) may
tamper (with it)," Rathi said, adding, the court allowed the
plea allowing examination by the agency on August 21, 22 on
the grounds that defence lawyers will remain present during
the process.
The case will now come up for next hearing on September
13 as the court of district and sessions judge Subhash Mehla
adjourned the matter.
In the charge sheet filed in June before the vacation
court of additional district and sessions judge Kanchan Mahi,
the NIA had accused the five of hatching a criminal conspiracy
which resulted in bomb blasts in the train.
Aseemanand and Sharma are already in judicial custody
in Ambala Jail.
Apart from Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three lives
and left 15 others injured, Aseemanand and Lokesh Kumar Sharma
are accused in several other blast cases across the country,
including those at Hyderabad`s Mecca Masjid and Malegaon.
PTI
