Complainant to file protest petition against NIA report

The complainant in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case will file a protest petition in a special NIA court against the probe agency’s closure report that cleared four accused, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.

The blast at the popular Sufi shrine in Ajmer on October 11, 2007 killed three people and injured 17 others.

The special court on April 17 said it wants to hear complainant Syed Sarwar Chishty’s remarks on the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) closure report before deciding whether it would accept it or not.

The next hearing in the case will take place on May 11. The NIA on April 3 submitted the closure report before the court.

Sadhvi Pragya is accused of being a member of Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu extremist outfit apparently floated by military officer Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit. RSS leader Indresh Kumar, another accused, is also allegedly linked to the outfit.

Complainant’s lawyer Idrish Mugal said he would file the protest petition on two grounds. “Why did the NIA keep the investigation against Sadhvi, Indresh and two others pending under Section 173(8) of CrPC in the charge-sheet that it filed?”

“Moreover, the NIA did not file any closure report against them voluntarily. It was only when the court asked them to do so that they filed it,” he said.

Mugal said if the NIA had found the four as suspects, there must have been some basis for it. “It appears that the investigation carried out by the NIA is not comprehensive,” said the lawyer. He has sought a copy of the closure report for perusal after which he’ll decide the course of action.

The special NIA court on March 8 had found right-wing activists Sunil Joshi and Devendra Gupta guilty of planning the blast and Bhavesh Bhai Patel of planting the explosive.