The flaws that spooked NIA’s Aseemanand probe
Procedural lapses and dependence on an unverifiable witness by the prosecution led the court trying the 2007 Ajmer blast case to dismiss the judicial confession of Swami Aseemanand, paving the way for his acquittal, court documents accessed by HT show.
Last month, a Jaipur court let off Aseemanand and six others in the explosion at the famous shrine of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer. Three of the accused were convicted for the blast that killed three persons on October 11, 2007.
Aseemanand is also an accused in the Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid blast cases, all three coming within months of each other and dubbed as acts of Hindu terror.
Aseemanand’s confessional statement made in December 2010 was the most credible evidence against him as it was recorded by a judicial magistrate, giving it legal sanctity. He however retracted it later.
The Ajmer blast case was initially probed by Rajasthan police but was handed over to the NIA in 2011. Aseemanand was arrested on November 18, 2010 by the CBI, which was probing the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad that killed 14 people in May 2007. The case too was later handed over to the NIA.
Since the Ajmer case was registered in Hyderabad, a city court dealt with Aseemanand’s custodial hearings after his arrest. But his confession was recorded by a magistrate in Delhi and not in Hyderabad, which eventually went against the prosecution.
The CBI investigating officer (IO) T Rajabalaji told the court that since the accused had information about a Delhi connection into the Mecca Masjid blast probe, he was brought to the national capital.
It was here that Aseemanand allegedly expressed his desire to
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