Pragya, 3 others get clean chit in Ajmer blast case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday gave a clean chit to four people, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast.
A closure report was submitted in the special NIA court in Jaipur, as the counter-terrorism agency couldn’t find enough evidence to build a case against the four.
“The NIA filed the closure report against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Indresh Kumar, Prince and Rajendra in the Ajmer Dargah blast case. The court will decide on April 17 whether it will accept the report,” public prosecutor Ashwini Sharma said.
Three more suspects — Sandeep Dange, Suresh Nair and Ram Chandra Kalsangra — are still on the run.
Justice Dinesh Gupta expressed displeasure over NIA’s inability to arrest the trio, who figure on a list of mostwanted people in the agency’s website with cash rewards against them.
The court has written to the NIA DGP, asking for a progress report on efforts to arrest the three fugitives.
The Sadhvi has been accused of being a member of Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu extremist outfit, apparently floated by military officer Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit. Indresh Kumar of the RSS is allegedly with the group.
The explosion at the popular Sufi shrine in Ajmer in October 2007 killed three people and wounded 17.
Besides Ajmer, the Sadhvi has also been a suspect in the 2008 Malegaon bombing that killed seven people.
The special NIA court had earlier found Hindu right-wing activists Sunil Joshi and Devendra Gupta guilty of planning the blast, and Bhavesh Bhai Patel of planting the explosive. Both the men were sentenced to life imprisonment on March 22.
The court directed the NIA on Monday to present evidence that verifies the deaths of two other people in the case, Jayanti Bhai Gohil and Ramesh Gohil. Both men were accused in the Gujarat Best Bakery Blast in 2002.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko was jailed for 15 days on Monday in a sedition case registered in 2009.
The case was filed by Chennai Police after the mercurial politician, known for his grandiloquent speeches, said that India would struggle to remain united if the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka was not stopped.
A first information report was filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against Vaiko, who had also been slapped with charges of inciting people to indulge in violence in 2009.
Vaiko was produced before a magistrates’ court in the Tamil Nadu state capital earlier on Monday and was subsequently remanded in judicial custody without bail. His passport has also been seized.
A staunch supporter of the terrorist group since his days in the DMK, Vaiko made several statements in the past supporting the group during the bloody Sri Lankan civil war. HTC