Court again gives ‘last opportunity’, asks NIA to produce Pak witnesses
ON SEPT 18, COURT HAD DIRECTED THE NIA TO CONCLUDE ITS WITNESS EXAMINATION ON OCTOBER 5 IN THE 2007 BLASTS CASE IN WHICH 68 PEOPLE WERE KILLED
PANCHKULA:THE special NIA court has once again given “one last opportunity” to National Investigation Agency (NIA) to conclude its witness examination on October 11 in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts case in which 68 people were killed.
During the resumed hearing in the case on Friday, the NIA again failed to bring the 13 Pakistani witnesses, which are yet to be examined. Defence counsel Manbir Rathi said, “The agency failed to bring the 13 witnesses from Pakistan, to be examined in the case. However, the court has now directed the NIA to bring the witnesses by October 11 or close the evidence.”
Earlier on September 18, special judge Jagdeep Singh gave last opportunity to the agency and directed the NIA to file a status report regarding service of summons to unexamined witnesses who are Pakistan nationals and directed the agency to conclude its witness examination in the case by October 5. During the last hearing, the special public prosecutors also apprised the court that all witnesses, except 13 Pakistan nationals, have already been examined.
The blasts had taken place on February 18, 2007, near Panipat, killing 68 people, 42 of them Pakistanis, when bi-weekly Samjhauta Express connecting Delhi and Attari, at India-pakistan border in Punjab, was crossing Panipat. The initial investigation in the case was carried out by the Government Railway Police and the Haryana Police, but the Centre handed over the probe in 2010 to the NIA, which filed a chargesheet against alleged Hindu extremists Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan, Rajinder Chaudhary, Amit, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji.
The court has been adjourning the matter for witness examination of Pakistan nationals since November 2017. However, the NIA has failed to bring them so far. Among the Pakistani witnesses are some survivors of the train blast tragedy.