PANCHKULA (Haryana), June 20 (IANS): The National Investigating Agency (NIA) Monday filed its chargesheet against radical Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in a court here, holding them responsible for the blasts in the Samjhauta Express near Panipat town in Haryana in February 2007 that killed 68 people.
The chargesheet, filed in the court of officiating NIA Special Judge Kanchan Mahi, said that Swami Aseemanand was the mastermind of the blasts and instigated others to carry out the terrorist act, NIA lawyer Ahmed Khan said here.
He said the role of Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya in the case was also being investigated.
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.
He 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 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Nov 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 Feb 18, 2007, at Diwana village near the industrial town of Panipat, 160 km from here.
The bombing took place in two bogies of the 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 to board the train to Lahore in Pakistan the next day (Feb 19).
