Bharat Rakshak

ramana wrote:Aseemanand and 3 others set free from the accusation of Samjhauta Express bombing afterc12 years in custody.

Rajinder Nagarkoti | TNN | Updated: Mar 21, 2019, 02:00 IST

PANCHKULA: Four accused, including the radical right-wing’s Swami Aseemanand, were on Wednesday acquitted by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Panchkula in the 2007 Samjhauta blasts case.

The special NIA judge Jagdeep Singh pronounced the verdict after dismissing an application filed by a Pakistani woman, Rahila Vakil, who said she was the daughter of Muhammad Vakil, one of the Pakistanis killed in the Samjhauta blasts. She had urged court through her lawyer Momin Malik to record her statement and examine other Pakistani witnesses of the twin blasts.

Sixty-eight people, mostly Pakistanis, on board the Samjhauta Express were killed when bombs set off in two bogies of the train going from Delhi to Attari, the last station on the Indian side, on February 18, 2007, at Diwana village, near Panipat in Haryana.

The NIA will examine the court’s orders and accordingly decide on the next course of action. “The NIA had received the investigation of the case almost three years after the incident but still after several difficulties in investigations, the agency had unearthed the case. However, due to delay some of the witnesses turned hostile and we could not link the charges. We will examine the copy of the judgment and any decision on appeal will be taken after that,” NIA prosecutor R K Handa added.

The court acquitted the former RSS activist Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajender Chaudhary in the case. When the special NIA judge pronounced the verdict, Aseemanand and three others were calm, revealed sources.

Of the total eight accused in the case, Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangra and Amit Chauhan are absconding. Another accused Sunil Joshi, allegedly the mastermind of the case, was shot dead at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh on December 29, 2007.

Aseemanand and Kamal Chauhan now have no cases pending against them, but Lokesh Sharma and Rajender Chaudhary will remain in judicial custody in connection with the 2006 Malegaon blasts case. There were total three cases against Aseemanand, including 2007 Mecca Masjid blast, Ajmer Dargah blasts and Samjhauta blasts. On April 16, 2018, he was acquitted by special NIA court in Hyderabad in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. Similarly, in March 2017, Aseemanand was acquitted in Ajmer Dargah blasts case.

After the verdict, Aseemanand, who was out on bail, exited the court room and thanked people and media who were outside court complex with folded hands. However, he did not comment on his acquittal and left the premises in a private vehicle.

Aseemanand’s counsel Mukesh Garg said the NIA court’s verdict had proved that his client and others had no links with these blasts.

The NIA had filed the charge sheet, running into 1,500 pages against Aseemanand and four others in the Panchkula NIA court on June 20, 2011. In the charge sheet, the agency had accused Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji, of murder and criminal conspiracy, under the Explosive Substances Act and Railways Act and others. Later, supplementary charge sheet was also filed against the remaining accused.

The NIA had submitted that the accused had attacked the train to take revenge against the terror attacks on Hindu temples — Akshardham (Gujarat), Raghunath Mandir (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan Mandir (Varanasi). However, the accused had pleaded they were falsely implicated in the case and their ‘confessional statements’ had been taken by the investigation agencies under duress by resorting to coercive methods.

Samjhauta Express blast case: Aseemanand among 4 acquitted by special NIA court

India Today Web Desk
New Delhi
March 20, 2019
UPDATED: March 20, 2019 19:52 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

Samjhauta Express occurred near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007
68 people were killed in it and most of them were Pakistanis
The probe was handed over to the NIA in July 2010

Four accused in the Samjhauta Express blast case, including godman Swami Aseemanand, have been acquitted by a court in Panchkula, Haryana. The three other people who have been acquitted are: Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary. They have been acquitted by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court.

The verdict came after NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit".

"All the four accused, Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary have been acquitted by the court," NIA counsel Rajan Malhotra said.

The blast in Samjhauta Express occurred near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. The blast had ripped apart two coaches of the cross-border train, killing 68, mostly Pakistani nationals and four Indian Railway officials.

In July 2010, the probe was handed over to the NIA. After its probe, the NIA filed a charge sheet in the case in June 2011 against eight persons for their alleged roles in the terror attack.

Aseemanand acquitted in Samjhauta Express blast case
Court says charges not proved against four accused, Pakistan lodges protest.

india Updated: Mar 20, 2019 23:42 IST
Pawan Sharma and Rezaul H Laskar
Hindustan Times, Panchkua/ New Delhi

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Haryana’s Panchkula on Wednesday acquitted Naba Kumar Sarkar, alias Aseemanand, and three other accused in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case that killed 68 people, prompting Pakistan to summon the Indian high commissioner in protest.

This is the third terror-related case in which Aseemanand, a former functionary of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate, has been acquitted. He was earlier cleared in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case in Hyderabad and the 2007 Ajmer blast case - two other cases that gave rise to the phrase “saffron terror”, which Hindutva organisations reject as false propaganda.

“All the four accused, Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary have been acquitted by the court,” NIA counsel Rajan Malhotra said after the verdict was announced by NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh in a courtroom where the media was not allowed.

“While pronouncing the ruling, the NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh stated the prosecution has failed to prove its case and that therefore, all four accused are hereby acquitted. The detailed order of the ruling is awaited,” Mukesh Garg, counsel for Aseemanand, told reporters outside the court.

A visibly relieved Aseemanand, who was already out on bail, didn’t speak to the media but another of his lawyers, Manvir Rathi, said, “He was a victim of political terrorism. All cases against him including Samjhauta blast case were planted due to political reasons.”

Shortly after the verdict, Pakistan summoned the Indian high commissioner to register a “strong protest and condemnation”. “The acquittal of the accused today, 11 years after the heinous Samjhauta terror attacks, makes a travesty of justice…” said a statement issued by the foreign office. Pakistan called upon India to explore “judicial remedies”.

Officials with knowledge of the developments said the Indian high commissioner rejected Pakistan’s assertions and highlighted that due process of law had been followed in a transparent manner.

He also pointed to the lack of cooperation by Pakistan in serving summons on Pakistani witnesses in the case. The high commissioner also asked for an expedited trial in the 2008 Mumbai attack case and the 2016 Pathankot attack case and pointed out that Pakistan hadn’t taken “credible” steps against the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which took responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama strike that killed 40 troopers.

A verdict in the case was expected last week but a last-minute intervention by a Pakistani national through her lawyer resulted in the deferment of the judgment.

In her intervention, Rahila Wakil, who hails from Dhingrawali village of Hafizabad district in Pakistan, said that her father Muhammad Wakeel was one of the victims of the train blast and added that all Pakistan nationals who were witnesses in this 2007 case are “ready to appear” to testify. Her petition was dismissed by the court on Wednesday.

“Another UPA time false case falls apart,” tweeted Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Ram Madhav, referring to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance that was in power when the charge sheet was filed.

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti questioned the grounds on which the accused were acquitted.

“Despite damning evidence, the accused including a former RSS member have been acquitted. God forbid, had they been Kashmiris / Muslims, they would be pronounced guilty & imprisoned without even a fair trial. Why such double standards and leniency towards saffron terror?” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister asked.

Two coaches of the India-Pakistan Samjhauta Express were engulfed in flames on February 18, 2007 after improvised explosive devices (IED) planted in unreserved compartments were set off near Panipat in Haryana. Sixty eight people were killed, most of whom were Pakistani nationals. The bi-weekly train, which is jointly run by the Indian and Pakistani Railways, was travelling from New Delhi to Attari, the last station before the Pakistan border. At Attari, passengers switch to a Pakistani train.

The probe was handed over to the NIA in July 2010. The agency filed a charge sheet in July 2011 against eight people and said two general coaches of the train, which had 16 cars in all, caught fire after the bomb explosions. Two unexploded suitcase bombs were also found in other compartments of the train.

The agency said the accused were angry with the “Islamic terrorist attacks” on Hindu temples - Akshardham (Gujarat), Raghunath Mandir (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan Mandir (Varanasi). The investigators sought to establish a link between the Samjhauta, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blast cases. The defence argued that the link was tenuous and that the statements of the accused were taken under duress.

Of the eight accused, Aseemanand, Sharma, Chauhan and Chaudhary appeared before the court and faced trial. Sunil Joshi, the alleged mastermind of the attack, was shot dead near his home in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district in December 2007.

The three other accused -- Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Amit, who was mentioned only by one name -- could not be arrested and were declared proclaimed offenders.

NIA had charged the accused with murder and criminal conspiracy, and under the Explosive Substances Act and the Railways Act. According to NIA investigators, the agency recorded the statements of 224 witnesses out of a total of 299; 51 witnesses turned hostile; and nine witnesses died; and 13 Pakistan nationals did not record their statements. NIA officials said during the trial that they sent several summons to the Pakistani witnesses through the external affairs ministry that didn’t receive a response.

(with agency inputs)

First Published: Mar 20, 2019 23:42 IST

Sanju wrote:In the above links posted:

TimesNow = refers to radical right wing.
IT refers to the Swamiji as godman Swami Aseemanand.
:

Two main accused in Malegaon blasts were killed in police custody


Suspended Inspector Mehboob Mujawar, who was part of the probe team for the blasts, has told a Solapur court
that the bodies were disposed of as “unidentified 26/11 victims”.
Two of the main accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, believed to be on the run for eight years now, may
already be dead.
In a sensational revelation, suspended Police Inspector Mehboob Mujawar has alleged that Sandeep Dange and
Ramji Kalsangra, who were accused of planting the bombs in Malegaon, were killed in custody by Maharashtra
Anti-Terrorism Squad officials in 2008 itself and their bodies were disposed of with 26/11 terror attack victims.
Police Inspector Mehboob Mujawar was deputed by the Director General of Police’s office to the Maharashtra
Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team probing the Malegaon blasts, which left eight people dead and scores injured.
He was part of the team till March 2009 and his job was to gather intelligence.
The allegation, which can prove to be embarrassing for the Maharashtra ATS, has been made in an affidavit filed by Mujawar, who was suspended after two cases – one of disproportionate assets and the other under the Arms
Act --were filed against him before the Solapur Magistrate’s Court earlier this month.
The Solapur Magistrate’s Court is hearing the two cases against Mujawar, who has sought a discharge, claiming
that he is being victimised for complaining against the officers involved in eliminating Dange and Kalsangra to
SS Virk, the then Director General of Police in 2009.
Mujawar has, however, not named any police officers in the affidavit. When Mumbai Mirror contacted him in
Solapur over the phone, he said he would reveal the officers’ identities before the court. “A terror suspect whom
I had caught in connection with the Malegaon blasts from Jalgaon was allowed to go scot free, whereas
Kalsangra and Dange were taken into custody the same day as Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. Kalsangra and Dange were
taken to Nashik and from there they were taken to Mumbai, where they were killed in custody,” he said.
Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Colonel Shrikant Purohit, who were arrested on conspiracy charges in the case, are
currently in jail.
Mujawar was advised to file the affidavit by social activist Neeraj Gunde, whom the police officer had
approached for advice on the two cases filed against him.
Mujawar has claimed that Kalsangra and Dange’s bodies were marked as “unidentified victims of 26/11 terror
attacks” and disposed of. “When we checked the pictures of those bodies, there were a lot of similarities with the
absconding accused,” said Gunde.
Two police officers ACP Rajan Ghule and Police Inspector Ramesh More, who were part of the Malegaon blasts
investigation, already stand accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation of abducting a certain Dilip Patidar
from Indore.
Patidar was made a witness in the Malgaon blasts case and picked up from his residence in Indore for
questioning by an ATS team led by Ghule and More. Patidar was brought to Mumbai, but never reached home.
Kalsangra was Patidar’s tenant in Indore.

Suspended Police Inspector Mehboob Mujawar, who created a stir late last month by claiming that two of the
main accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case -- Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra -- were killed in police
custody, has revealed that a third person was also killed around the same time by Anti-terrorism Squad officials,
who were then handling the blasts probe.
Mujawar was on Tuesday questioned for nearly eight hours by a National Investigation Agency team at its
Cumballa Hill office. He, however, told the investigators that he did not know the identity of this third person
because he was not involved in the operation to arrest him.
Interestingly, two police officers -- ACP Rajan Ghule and Police Inspector Ramesh More, both part of Malegaon
blasts investigation -- stand accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation of abducting a certain Dilip Patidar
from Indore.
Patidar was made a witness in the Malgaon blasts case and picked up from his residence for questioning by an
ATS team led by Ghule and More. Patidar was brought to Mumbai, let off after questioning, but he never reached
home and was never seen again.
NIA sources said it is possible that Patidar is the third person Mujawar is referring to. There are quite a few
common links between Patidar, Kalsangra and Dange. For starters, all three were arrested from Indore. But more
importantly, Kalsangra was at one point a tenant of Patidar.
Mujawar’s allegations on the alleged custodial killings of Kalsangra and Dange were made in an affidavit filed in
December last year before a Solapur Magistrate’s Court, where he is facing two cases – one of disproportionate
assets and the other under the Arms Act. Mujawar has sought a discharge in both the cases claiming that he is
being victimised for complaining against the officers involved in eliminating Dange and Kalsangra to their
superiors.
In NIA and ATS records, Dange and Kalsangra are “absconding” and Patidar is “missing”. Dange and Kalsangra
have been accused of planting the bombs in Malegaon that left eight people dead.
According to Mujawar, Dange and Kalsangra were killed in custody in 2008 itself and their bodies were
disposed of with 26/11terror attack victims. He has claimed that Kalnsangra and Dange were in ATS custody for
more than a month before they were killed.
Mujawar was deputed by the Director General of Police’s office to the ATS team. He was part of the team till
March 2009 and his job was to gather intelligence.
When Mumbai Mirror contacted Mujawar on Tuesday following his questioning, her said he has revealed to the
NIA the identities of the police officers he believes were involved in the custodial killings.

Rudradev wrote:Shwetank Bhushan had written an article that was a good review of the Malegaon and Samjhauta prosecution-related events. I tried looking for it online but cannot find it.

Rajdeep wrote:

Rudradev wrote:Shwetank Bhushan had written an article that was a good review of the Malegaon and Samjhauta prosecution-related events. I tried looking for it online but cannot find it.

Is this what you are referring to ?

https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2018/4/ ... -Myth.html

He was following orders. Rather acting as messenger. We have to go to insult DK Summanwar, DGMI. & JJ Singh COAS trading with XJP etc. The conspiracy came from top. Sekhar Dutt BIL of Pulok was Def Secy later elevated as Dy NSA.

Rajdeep wrote:

Rudradev wrote:Shwetank Bhushan had written an article that was a good review of the Malegaon and Samjhauta prosecution-related events. I tried looking for it online but cannot find it.

Is this what you are referring to ?

https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2018/4/ ... -Myth.html

Lisa wrote:May be?

https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/ ... endra-modi

https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/ ... estigation

chetak wrote: page not found

sir ji,

by any chance, did you save the article.

if you have then could you maybe you could post the text.

ramana wrote:Chetak,
Am thinking we should post the full text of these four articles and see them together to see what the real story is and what are the gaps?

Anujan wrote:

chetak wrote: page not found

sir ji,

by any chance, did you save the article.

if you have then could you maybe you could post the text.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180424014 ... -Myth.html

The Ishrat Jahan Case- An attempt to 'fix' Narendra Modi?

The latest revelations in the Ishrat Jahan episode, have raised many questions, and it seems to be a bigger conspiracy than what we imagined. Each new revelation removes the veil of secrecy that there was a collaborated effort to damage one man, either physically, politically or judicially.

On 15th June 2004, in a coordinated operation of the Intelligence Bureau and Gujarat police killed four Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives in Gandhinagar. They were Javed Sheikh (alias Pranesh Pillai), a 19-year-old female suicide bomber of LeT, Ishrat Jehan and two Pakistani terrorists of LeT, Abdul Ghani Jeshan Johar and Amzad Ali Rana also known as Salim.

The sinister plan to execute some top BJP leader drew the two Pakistani Lashkar operatives to Gujarat along with Ishrat and Javed Sheikh. Senior leaders including Lal Krishna Advani, Bala Saheb Thackrey, Pravin Togadia, Ashok Singhal and Narendra Modi were on the hit list of LeT.

This group was on the radar of the security agencies for quite some time. But unknown to the group, the IB picked their chat originating from the satellite phone they were using while they were talking to an area commander of LeT called Muzammil in Pakistan. When they reached Gandhinagar, the satellite phone was again used, which had been kept under surveillance by the IB.

These four terrorists had entered Gujarat with an intention of assassinating Narendra Modi as at the time they reached Gandhinagar, none of the leaders on the hit list of LeT were present in Gujarat except the State CM Mr. Modi. All the four were intercepted and then encountered.

The first plot to eliminate Mr. Modi ‘physically' was foiled.

The Gujarat Police filed a report stating that Ishrat, along with three other Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives had been gunned down by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of the Ahmedabad City Police. At that time, the UPA Government took a firm stand that Ishrat and group were LeT operatives, and the encounter was genuine. The police claimed that the four were connected with the LeT and had come to Gujarat to assassinate the then chief minister Narendra Modi. Even a magazine which is the mouthpiece of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Ghazwa Times had hailed the martyrdom of Ishrat and the rest.

The next major attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba was the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008. In my opinion, this was the worst ever attack on Indian soil. We shall look into how this was used to eliminate Mr. Modi "politically", later.

Five years later, in 2009, the UPA Govt. took a complete U-turn when P Chidambaram became the Home Minister. Based on allegations that the representation of the Ishrat Jahan encounter by the police was false, and the killings were deliberate and unlawful, Ahmedabad Metropolitan court ruled that the encounter was staged.

Ishrat was declared innocent moon-faced Muslim girl by the intelligentsia and used by the UPA government to attack Mr. Modi, this time, "Judicially." A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up to probe the case further.


What is most frightening in this investigation or in any such investigation to do with Jihadis, is that there has always been an attempt by the Congress Party that has gone out of its way to promote the idea that Hindu communalism is the real threat to India.

Soon after the 26/11 attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2008, CM of Bihar, JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar whose state's borders have nothing to do with Pakistan visited there as a state guest. It's an irrelevant insertion here.

The prize minion of Congress Party, Digvijay Singh was found launching a book "26/11- RSS KI SAZISH."

There was a Muslim disenchantment with the party, and the scam-a-day regime was explained as a ‘sideshow' to divert attention from the Congress's crushing defeat in the Gujarat local elections and near complete rout in Bihar.

"Who Killed Karkare" was another book, aimed at denigrating the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Police, to demoralize them.

Thankfully, Ajmal Kassab was caught, and their telephone conversations were intercepted between him, his other comrades and their masterminds who were directing the operations from Pakistani soil, we would not have been able to prove that India was a victim of terror attacks from across the border. Moreover, the attempt to tarnish the image of BJP and Narendra Modi ‘Politically' was foiled.

There are few elements (Congress ecosystem) within the administration in India who have utterly bizarre notions about the origins of terror attacks on Indian soil. One such man was an IPS officer named Satish Verma, whose views on the origins of 26/11 terror attacks and even the 2001 Parliament attack had already attracted the attention of the sensational and bizarre nature of his claims. He said that both these attacks were orchestrated by none other than the Indian Govt. or were the handiwork of Indian Intelligence Agencies. Bizarre or perhaps Interesting!!

MHA filed a detailed affidavit on Aug 6, 2009, which proved that inputs provided by IB were all correct. Mr. G K Pillai was home secretary when the original MHA affidavit that described Ishrat and her slain aides as LeT operatives. Within two months, the affidavit was revised in 2009 when P Chidambaram was the home minister. The revised affidavit struck off the insertion that Ishrat was a LeT operative, saying there was no conclusive evidence.

The MHA under P Chidambaram was either trying to prove terrorists as innocent or attempting to settle political scores "Judicially' or both.

Interestingly, it appeared that the Indian media, especially the English media repeatedly charged Gujarat Police for fake encounter, questioning the allegations against Ishrat Jahan. It seems they were targeting two specific men in this case; Narendra Modi and Amit Shah hand in glove with their political masters. The desperate attempt to use Ishrat killing to implicate Narendra Modi and Shah was entirely based on innuendoes and hearsay.

In the meantime, CM of Bihar claimed that Ishrat was innocent and went on to call her ‘Bihar Ki Beti' (daughter of Bihar). Irrelevant, but that is how appeasement politics patronizes terrorists in one's backyard.


When in 2009, the Government decided to investigate the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case was fake or not, they appointed an SIT that was supposed to be headed by a top cop who knew terrorism, law, and also high in credibility.

The first officer Karnail Singh decided to leave this job citing he is unable to handle it. Was it the political pressure that he could not handle? The officer was then transferred to Mizoram. The second officer who was asked to head this job also refused. No upright officer would voluntarily reject a challenging job unless it is impossible for him to work or it is entirely unacceptable to do something being asked. What were they asked for is a matter of investigation.

Then a third officer was selected who had a total conflict of interest in this case and against the people he was investigating. There had been a long history on record of acrimonious exchanges between the IB officer Rajinder Kumar and the investigating officer. There had been series of allegations by the then IB officer Rajender Kumar on this SIT head, which was under investigation, they were investigated, and the investigating officer was found to be at fault. With that grudge, that man should not have been the investigating officer in the first place. Interestingly, this investigating officer, who was heading SIT, was none other than Mr. Satish Verma.

In 2011, SIT claims that the encounter was fake and based on their findings, the policemen involved were accused of murder, and cases were filed against them. CBI had filed a charge-sheet against Kumar and three other IB officers despite Law ministry's denial of sanction to prosecute them. Besides Kumar, a 1979 batch IPS officer who retired last year, those named in the charge sheet are P Mittal, MK Sinha, and Rajiv Wankhede.

Meanwhile, North Bihar became a hub of Indian Mujahideen. Not to be forgotten, the IM terrorists made another attempt to assassinate Narendra Modi in Patna on 27th October 2013. Luckily for India, another attempt to eliminate Mr. Modi ‘physically" was also foiled.

Let us now look at the recent revelations that corroborate the chronological attempts to settle political scores above.

Rajinder Kumar - Rajinder Kumar who was the Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau was part of the team which tracked down this operation and without a doubt, these persons were terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. He further claimed that he was pressurized to implicate the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Making the explosive claims, Kumar, a 1979 batch IPS officer who retired last year, said a very senior Congress leader hailing from Gujarat was the mastermind of the conspiracy to defame Narendra Modi. While presenting his side of the story, the ex-IB officer said, "As Modi had emerged the biggest challenge to the UPA government, they wanted me to give a statement, which could be used as evidence to implicate the ex-Gujarat CM."

David Coleman Headley - David Headley was indicted in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai by LeT. This man, who conducted extensive reconnaissance on behalf of the Lashkar, was interrogated by the FBI in Chicago. The question was simple. How could David Headley have known Ishrat Jahan and the plan to assassinate Narendra Modi unless Ishrat was indeed a Lashkar operative?

Interestingly it transpired that Headley's testimony was not included by the CBI as they considered it to be hearsay.

Later a letter from 25th June 2010 emerged which was sent by Daniel Cleg, the person for the FBI in Delhi to the Intelligence Bureau. The second part of the letter says that Zaki-ur-Rehman (top Lashkar leader) told Headley that a female suicide bomber named Ishrat Jahan was hired by Muzammil, the area commander of LeT.

Also, not to anybody's surprise, Indian media hardly reported what Headley said about Ishrat but only about the innocence of the young Muslim Girl.

Former Union home secretary G K Pillai on Thursday said Ishrat Jahan was a cover for the LeT module out to target then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi before she and her three aides were killed in an encounter in 2004. He said the decision to revise home ministry's affidavit in the Ishrat encounter case so as to state that there was no conclusive proof of her Lashkar link was taken at the "political level." He also added that the operation to neutralize the terror module to which she belonged was right.

The dangerous game of trying to prove terrorists as innocent to settle political scores is frightening. On whose exact behest was this being done in this supremely important case warrants a proper investigation? The question is can we expect such an investigation soon?

Saffron Terror- A Congress Conspiracy to destroy Narendra Modi

In the previous column this author explained how the entire Ishrat Jehan Episode was planned by previous Congress Government. to eliminate a rising political opponent, Mr. Narendra Modi, either physically, politically or judicially.

Lead by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and represented by Ex-PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Ex Home Ministers P. Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde, all of them together misused and abused the constitutional offices under oath and compromised the national security of this country and protecting the enemies who has been killing our citizens in the terror attacks and bleeding India.

A series of low-intensity terror attacks targeting Muslims were conducted to create a "Saffron Terror" background, and 26/11 was the culmination. Hindu extremist organizations have been accused of involvement in terrorist attacks like 2006 Malegaon blasts, Mecca Masjid bombing (Hyderabad), Samjhauta Express bombings and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast. In this post, we will focus on each such terror allegations, especially the Samjhauta Express Blast case (since it's been in focus for a long time).

Malegaon Blasts: 8th September 2006

A series of bomb blasts that took place in Malegaon, a town in the Nashik district of the Indian State of Maharashtra. Most of the blast victims were Muslim pilgrims.

In the September 2006 incident, police investigations have determined that the explosives contained in these bombings were "a cocktail of RDX, Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil, the same mixture used in July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, a terrorist incident for which several Islamist groups are suspects. Since the investigation was still underway, Nasik Superintendent of Police, Rajvardhan declined to give details, saying: "We can't say anything till we get reports from all the agencies", but soon released the sketches of two suspects. Here is the Report.

On 30 October, Times of India reported that first arrest was made in Malegaon blast case. This is the arrest of Noor-Ul-Hooda, an activist of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). On 13th October, the DGP of Mumbai, Mr. Pasricha said that they were very close to cracking the case and claimed to have identified the perpetrators. On 6 November, the Times of India reported from Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) that the prime conspirator Shabbir Batterywala is an operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the co-conspirator is Raees Ahmad of SIMI.

On September 12, 2006, Indian Prime Minister said following, "It will be inappropriate for us to rule out anything or rule in anything. I think there should be a fair investigation that inspires confidence and brings out the truth and nothing but the truth without any pre-conceived notion. That has to be the objective".

Alas! The Maharashtra ATS had prima facie ruled out the involvement of Hindu Nationalist groups.

Samjhauta Express Blasts: 18th February 2007

The twin blasts shook two coaches of the Samjhauta Express around midnight on 18 February 2007. Sixty-eight people were killed in the ensuing fire and dozens were injured.

It has been allegedly linked to Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu fundamentalist group. In November 2008, it was reported that the Maharashtra ATS suspected the attacks were linked to Prasad Shrikant Purohit, an Indian army officer and a member of Abhinav Bharat.

Purohit himself claimed that he had "infiltrated" the Abhinav Bharat. During an army's Court of Inquiry, 59 witnesses stated to the court along with Officers who testified that Purohit was doing his job of gathering intelligence inputs by infiltrating extremist organizations. Col. Purohit was given a clean chit by the Army's Court of Inquiry. It is interesting that, except the Indian investigators, all others pointed

Now comes the interesting part. Except the Indian investigators, all others pointed fingers at the LeT to be responsible.

“Qasmani Arif, chief coordinator of the relations of LeT with other organizations, has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks including, the bombing of February 2007 in the Samjhauta Express in Panipat (India).” This is what resolution [No 1267] of the Committee on Sanctions of the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] dated 29.6.2009 declares. Adding that Qasmani was funded by Dawood Ibrahim and he did fund-raising for LeT and Al-Qaida, the UNSC said: “In exchange for their support, Al-Qaida provided support staff for the bombing in February 2007 in the Samjhauta Express in Panipat.” This resolution is available on UN site.

Six months after the UN and the US announced sanctions against LeT and Qasmani, the Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Mallik himself admitted that Pakistani terrorists were involved in the Samjhauta blast, but with a rider that “some Pakistan-based Islamists had been hired by Lt Col Purohit to carry out the Samjhauta Express attack.”


Not just UN or US Treasury or just the admission of Pakistan’s interior minister, in fact, independent investigation in the US revealed more. Some ten months later, Sebastian Rotella, a US journalist, wrote in his investigative report titled, “U.S. agencies were forewarned about suspect in 2008 Mumbai bombings” that Faiza Outalha, the third of wife of David Coleman Headley had confessed [in 2008, that was made public in 2010] that Headley was involved in Samjhauta blast.

In The Washington Post issue dated 5.11.2010, in a column titled, “U.S. agencies were forewarned about suspect in 2008 Mumbai bombings” Sebastian Rotella wrote: "She said Headley had been given a special mission and that he had both U.S. and Pakistani passports," the senior anti-terror official said. "She said she felt she had been innocently used in an express train bombing" in India that had killed 68 people in 2007. "

Why did NIA not name Arif Qasmani as suspect/accused in the Samjhauta blast? Why it did not seek the extradition of Arif Qasmani from Pakistan? What effort did the NIA make to secure the evidence on the basis of which the UNSC had declared Arif Qasmani as the accused in the Samjhauta blast? What effort did it make to secure the evidence on the basis of which the US Treasury Department had declared Arif Qasmani as the perpetrator? Did the NIA write to the Ministry of External Affairs or the Interpol directly for assistance from the US and the UN in the above? Whether it asked the MEA to seek the co-operation of the group established between India and Pakistan for sharing of the information? None.

Even at the start of the Samjhauta investigation in 2007 itself, the probe evidence had clearly pointed to the role of SIMI and LeT. India Today [19.9.2008] in its report titled ‘Pak hand in Mumbai train blast’s, Samjhauta Express blasts", says Nagori gave a meticulous account of the involvement of LeT and Pakistan in the Samjhauta terror. The report was based on narco test testimonies of SIMI leaders. India Today reported that narcotic tests were carried out in Bangalore, in April 2007, three months after the Samjhauta blast.

It revealed that SIMI activists had executed the Samjhauta blast, with the help of the Pakistani nationals from across the border; while Nagori was not directly involved, two members of SIMI Ehtesham Siddiqui and Nasir were directly involved; SIMI members, including Nagori’s brother Kamaruddin, were involved in the Samjhauta blast.

While the NIA is focusing on the confessions made by Swami Aseemanand about the involvement of Hindu extremist groups in the Samjhauta blasts case, the revelations by SIMI claiming responsibility for the attack cannot be overlooked. The contradictory statements by the two radical groups have left the investigators going in circles, reported Vicky Nanjappa.

Why were these clinching pieces of evidence not pursued? How did the blame shift from Islamists to Hindus? Some elements in the Maharashtra police appears to have colluded in linking Malegaon 2008 blast to the Samjhauta blast.

When leads were thus pointing to Pakistan and SIMI as partners in Samjhauta blast, as an anti-climax, the Maharashtra ATS shockingly told the Special Court through the public prosecutor, that Col Purohit, allegedly involved in the Malegaon blast in which RDX was used, had supplied RDX for the Samjhauta blast though one ‘Bhagwan’. Within the next 48 hours [17.11.2009] India Today online refuted the ATS claim saying that Samjhauta investigators had told India Today that study of the blast carried out by the National Security Guard said that no RDX, but Potassium Chlorate and Sulfur had been used as explosives. The magazine also recalled that immediately after the blasts, then Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the media that not RDX, but, a ‘new type of explosive’ had been used to bomb the Samjhauta Express.


On that very day [17.11.2009] the ATS counsel retracted from the statement he had made earlier involving Col Purohit in the Samjhauta blast. But the damage was done in the 48 hours.

The Carvan mentioned Aseemanand claimed that the attacks on the Samjhauta Express, Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Dargah, and the blasts in Malegaon in 2006 and 2008, were cleared by the highest levels of the RSS. Swami Aseemanand emphatically denies to have had any close-door meeting with senior leaders of the RSS in the year 2005 or afterward. Swami Aseemanand challenges the correspondent to prove the truth of the allegations or apologize forthwith.

Immediately Pakistan said that it would raise the issue of Col. Purohit’s involvement in Samjhauta in the Secretaries level meeting on November 25, 2008. Finally on January 20, 2009, Maharastra ATS officially denied that Col Purohit had supplied RDX for Samjhauta. This was how the Samjhauta focus – later the blame – shifted from LeT and SIMI to Col Purohit and via Purohit on to Saffron.

The Maharashtra ATS attempt to link Malegaon 2008 to Samjhauta which shifted the focus away from LeT on to Purohit needs to be probed, particularly given Dawood Ibrahim’s deep influence in Maharastra Police.

For more details on Samjhauta Blast revelations, I strongly recommend S Gurumurthy's Counter Investigation To NIA Investigation in Samjhauta Blast Case.

Mecca Masjid Bombing: 18th May 2007

The Mecca Masjid bombing occurred inside the Mecca Masjid, a mosque in Hyderabad. 14 people were reported dead in the immediate aftermath. The IED contained Cyclotol, a 60:40 mixture of RDX and TNT. These are important inputs as they are specially used by the Islamic Terror outfits.

Though the SIT of Hyderabad Police arrested ‘South India commander’ of the LeT, identified as Shaik Abdul Khaja alias Amjad, from Afzalgunj area of the city. Police said that the arrested was linked to Mohammed Abdul Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the bombing.

The South Asia Terrorism Portal, the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, the National Counter-terrorism Center the United States, and the United Nations reported that Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) was actually behind the attacks while excluding involvement by any Hindu group.

The South Asia Terrorism Portal cited Vikar Ahmed as the main suspect in the blast. Mohammed Abdul Shahid Bilal, former chief of HuJI’s Indian operations, was also regarded as a key suspect in the Mecca Masjid bombing, later he was shot by unknown gunmen in Karachi on 30 August 2007.

But the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and ATS questioned former members of the RSS On 19 November 2010, the CBI produced Swami Aseemanand before the court in connection with the Blast. It is important to note here that Aseemanand made a confession, which was "confidential", which he later retracted.

It is explicit from the NIA charge-sheet that Aseemanand’s retracted confession almost exclusively constitutes the backbone of the NIA case. The leak of Aseemananda’s alleged confession to the media (Tehelka), which is shocking and deliberate, was part of the design to politicize the case, conduct and conclude a media trial, and to create, at the global level, the notion of "Saffron (Hindu) Terror" for political purposes of the ruling party, Congress.


However, this confession was later found to be obtained under duress. In late 2011, Aseemanand wrote a petition to the President of India describing torture meted out to him during his confinement, prompting the High Courts to issue a notice to the NIA to investigate the allegations of torture.

Ajmer Dargah Attack: 11 October 2007

The Ajmer Dargah blast occurred outside the Dargah (shrine) of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan allegedly by the Hindutva organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its groups. On 22 October 2010, five accused, of which four allegedly belonging to the Hindu nationalist group RSS were arrested in connection with the blast.

The NIA court in Ajmer framed murder charges against seven persons, including key accused Aseemanand, in the Ajmer Dargah blast case. Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chandrashekhar Leve, Bharat Mohan Rateshwar, Jarshad Bhai and Mukesh Wasani have also been charged under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC.

Senior Ex-RAW officer, RSN Singh said that several blasts of low intensity were planned and conducted by the politicians and then they used NIA, SIT to frame Hindu outfits.

CNN-IBN had reported that it was Home Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, who forced Bhavesh Patel to implicate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. In his letter, Patel also blamed several other UPA ministers, including Minister of State for Home RPN Singh, Coal Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, for trying to frame Bhagwat.

Soon after the change of government at the Centre last year, it was decided that the hearings in the case would be fast-tracked and at least five hearings would be held every month. It is not at all surprising that one by one many key witnesses, in this case, are turning hostile. 15 of the total 83 witnesses examined in the case so far have turned hostile since June last year.

“Yet another one (Anand Raj Kataria) has turned hostile today. The case is getting weakened by the day,” said public prosecutor Ashwini Sharma, reported by the Indian Express.

Malegaon Blast: 29th September 2008

India witnessed a surge in terror attacks. A series of blasts in Jaipur killed 63. Since then, other major Indian cities including Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi were targeted.

On 29 September 2008, police in Ahmedabad, Gujarat foiled another terror attack when 17 bombs were found and defused. However, a low-intensity bomb exploded at a market packed with Muslims breaking their Ramzaan fast, killing one and wounding 15. Another bomb placed near a Temple in Faridabad was located and defused. Furthermore, the bombs were purportedly similar to those that exploded in Delhi two days before this attack.

The explosions in Malegaon and Modasa took place on the eve of Navratri, a major Hindu festival celebrated across India.

Police said that unsophisticated, crude bombs, identical to those that detonated in Delhi 3 days before, were used. The investigation was led by Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was later killed in the 2008 Mumbai Attacks.

PTI had reported that on 5th October 2008 police had arrested a Muslim man in connection to the bombings. further investigations were under way, with more arrests expected.

Surprisingly, there came a twist in the investigation. Only on the basis of the bike being used in the blast, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested along with Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu. The said bike once belonged to Sadhvi Pragya, which she sold in 1997 way before she took to a spiritual quest. The Saffron Terror angle was brought in.

On 25 October, two more ex-army personnel were also questioned and in two days the total arrest count mounted to seven when the ATS took in Sameer Kulkarni from Bhopal and Sangram Singh from Indore for questioning. According to the ATS, these arrests brought to light the workings of two groups, Rashtriya Jagaran Manch and Abhinav Bharat.

The ATS reported that they were part of an alleged "larger conspiracy", without elaborating what the conspiracy, or the basis for it, was. Allegations arose that the Sadhvi Pragya and others were framed for the blast. Then came the shocking charges made against the ATS by Sadhvi Pragya in an affidavit claiming that the investigating team has lost all moral authority, the manner in which unsubstantiated allegations have been made against army personnel and also detailing how she was physically and psychologically tortured and abused in obscene languages by her interrogators.

Top BJP leaders, including L. K. Advani expressed their shock and disbelief and asked for a judicial inquiry. In response to the whole imbroglio, the then Agriculture Minister, and NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar described the BJP as "unpatriotic".

"The police have started investigating...If any political party takes objection, it is unfair and unpatriotic. Why should we interfere in the process of investigations?"

On 4 November, the case heated up with the arrest of serving Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit. The Indian Army took this matter very seriously, as this was a matter of shame for the men in uniform.

Col. Purohit's counsel alleged that Purohit, with a distinguished service record in the army, was being victimized for political reasons and that he could even be eliminated by the ATS because of the possession of intelligence data of a sensitive nature pertaining to SIMI and ISI operations, which could embarrass some top political quarters. The ATS had jumped to a conclusion in utter haste without ascertaining the intelligence they have collected about the Army officer who belonged to the Intelligence Wing.

A key witness Yashpal Bhadana, a member of Abhinav Bharat recorded his statement before a magistrate under Section 164 CrPC in connection with the Malegaon case, that he was `coerced' to give a statement framing people, including Swami Aseemanand, in the Samjhauta Express blast case. Bhadana's testimony was recorded at the instance of NIA and may change the course of investigation in a clutch of cases, particularly the 2008 Malegaon blasts where Col Purohit and Pragya Singh Thakur were arrested.

Till today, the National Investigative Agency (NIA), has found no evidence against Col. Purohit or Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon Blast or the Sunil Joshi Murder case and it may recommend the court to drop all charges.

Why frame an Army Man? Who was Lt. Col Purohit?

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) says that it had issued series of alerts regarding the build-up of Burdwan module. However, what is interesting to point out that the first signs of a build-up was spotted in 2007 and it was Col. Purohit who had issued that alert and even prepared a report.

Colonel Purohit who has been accused of aiding subversive activities had, in fact, claimed several times that he had become a target and his job was to mingle with terrorists in order to prepare reports on them.

His reports stated that there was movement from Bangladesh, where in some radicals were crossing over into West Bengal and settling down. Col. Purohit’s report is a clear indication that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) with the able support of the Jamaat-e-Islami had decided on making West Bengal a base in order to target the establishment in Bangladesh. It is also an indicator that the same modules were trying to set up a base for the SIMI in India as well.

Detailing the sinister design of JMB, he stated that its primary purpose was not only to create unrest in Bangladesh but in the long run, target the Indian establishment as well. He also speaks at length about the creation of an Islamic Necklace which would include the states of Assam, West Bengal, and Tripura. These areas have seen a great deal of infiltration over the past couple of the years and even the NIA which is now probing the case has found detailed links between the JMB and these states.

It seems, he knew too much.

If you observe in all the information above, who is convicted in all these Blasts? No one. I have no reasons to disqualify US intelligence inputs on all of these terror attacks as the US has ridiculed any involvement by Hindu organizations. Why was the US intelligence making a categorical statement accusing, not even suspecting LeT & SIMI's involvement in all the attacks and why is it that our intelligence framing up charges against "Saffron Terror"?

It is obvious that the manner in which NIA has investigated is intriguing, unusual, and unprecedented, and explicitly points to insidious and hidden motives in the probe. Given the political propensities and compulsion of the ruling Congress party repeatedly made explicit by its functionaries including the Home Minister P Chidambaram and its General Secretary Digvijay Singh about the notion of Hindu terror, the unusual investigation of the NIA and its rejection and suppression of such vital evidence makes it a case of fixing the present accused.

According to released documents by WikiLeaks, Congress Party's general secretary Rahul Gandhi remarked to US Ambassador Timothy Roemer, at a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister of India at his residence in July 2009, that RSS was a "bigger threat" to India than the LeT.

This was a bigger conspiracy hatched by UPA Government and its senior ministers. Never in the history of India did anyone drive Communal wedge as deep and in such a conspiratorial manner, as Sonia Gandhi led Congress Party. From Anti-Godhra campaign to the invention of "Saffron Terror", to Fake Encounters with religious slurs, Congress had a cloaked dagger. The concept of 'Saffron Terror' is nothing but a political conspiracy against the Sangh and its senior leaders.

These investigations by the NIA needs to be discarded in its entirely and re-investigation of the case by an independent SIT must be carried out the under the supervision of the judiciary. Otherwise, besides that, there would be a total miscarriage of justice both ways - not only by torturing the innocent but also by letting free the real offenders.

Malegaon Blast Case & The Dubious Investigation


In the previous post, we traced the concoction of the Saffron Terror as one of the bigger political conspiracy hatched by UPA Government and its senior ministers against the RSS and its top leaders.

Despite being a politically sensitive matter, these saffron terror cases are fit for a case study on the total miscarriage of justice both ways - not only by torturing the innocent but also by letting free the real offenders.

In a stunning turnaround in the politically sensitive 2008 Malegaon Blasts Case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday (13.05.2016) accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the dubious investigation, dropping MCOCA from all accused including Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit and giving almost a clean chit to the prominent accused, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others saying evidence against them was not sufficient to justify prosecution.

This ‘charge-sheet' is scathing. Before going further, it has to be realized, that in this particular instance of admission- that people have been wrongfully held, has an enormous political impact. General Secretary of the Congress Digvijay Singh was the first person to go on TV saying that it was all politics claiming "whether a free and fair probe can be expected in all the Hindutva terror cases being investigated by the NIA under the BJP rule." More will flow as the case moves, probably overflow as well.

Let us re-track this case chronologically:

The blasts took place on 29 September 2008 near Bhikku Chowk in Malegaon, Maharashtra. Almost simultaneously, another explosion occurred in Modasa, Gujarat. The blast took place on the eve of Navaratri.
Seven people were killed in Malegaon, and a 15-year old boy lost his life in Modasa injuring 80 other people. Furthermore, the bombs were purportedly similar to those that exploded in Delhi two days before this attack. Police said that an unsophisticated, crude bombs, identical to those that detonated in Delhi 3 days before, were used.
Two low-intensity bombs were fitted on a motorbike and rigged to explode in Malegaon.
PTI had reported that on 5th October 2008 police had arrested a Muslim man and investigations were under way, with more Muslim extremists’ arrests expected.
Soon the Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) was deployed to help the Malegaon police in the investigation. The ATS team was led by ATS chief Hemant Karkare. That the blast took place in the town which has large Muslim population had meant that Hindus may have been behind it.
Immediately, there was a twist in the investigation and on the basis of the bike being used in the blast, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested along with two others. This particular bike once belonged to Sadhvi Pragya, which she sold in 1997 way before she took to spiritual quest. The Saffron Terror angle was brought in.
On 25 October, two more ex-army personnel were also questioned and in two days the total arrest count mounted to seven when the ATS took in Sameer Kulkarni from Bhopal and Sangram Singh from Indore for questioning. According to the ATS, these arrests brought to light the workings of Hindu terror groups.
The ATS reported that they were part of an alleged "larger conspiracy," without elaborating what the plot, or the basis for it, was. Allegations arose that the Sadhvi Pragya and others were framed for the blast.
Sadhvi Pragya made some shocking charges against the ATS in an affidavit claiming that the investigating team has lost all moral authority, the manner in which unsubstantiated allegations have been made against army personnel and also detailing how she was physically and psychologically tortured and abused in obscene languages by her interrogators.
Top BJP leaders expressed their shock and disbelief and asked for a judicial inquiry. In response to the whole imbroglio, the then Agriculture Minister, and NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar described the BJP as "unpatriotic".
On 4 November, the case heated up with the arrest of serving Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit. The Indian Army took this matter very seriously and ordered a Court of Inquiry.
Col. Purohit's counsel alleged that Purohit, with a distinguished service record in the army, was being victimized for political reasons because of the possession of intelligence data of a sensitive nature about SIMI and ISI operations, which could embarrass some top political quarters.
Let us take a break from the chronology and go back to that period. To the year 2008, when the term 'Hindu-Terror' was first invented by the Congress-NCP alliance.

Soon after the 26/11 attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2008, one of the top leaders of Congress Party, Digvijay Singh was found launching a book called "26/11- RSS Ki Saazish." In fact, there was Muslim disenchantment with the party, and the scam-a-day regime was explained as a ‘sideshow' to divert attention from the Congress's crushing defeat in the Gujarat local elections and near complete rout in Bihar.

"Who Killed Karkare" was another book, aimed at denigrating the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Police, to demoralize them.

Why were the clinching pieces of evidence directing towards Islamist radicals not pursued? How did the blame shift from Islamists to Hindus? Some elements in the Maharashtra police appears to have colluded in linking Malegaon 2008 blast to the Samjhauta blast. When leads were thus pointing to Pakistan and SIMI as partners in Samjhauta blast, in November 2008, as an anti-climax, the Maharashtra ATS shockingly told the Special Court through the public prosecutor, that Col Purohit, allegedly involved in the Malegaon blast in which RDX was used, had supplied RDX for the Samjhauta blast

. Here is that Report.

Shockingly, the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram's understanding convinced the investigators of Samjhauta Blast Case that, the United Nations Security Council and the US Treasury Department were fabricating charges against Qasmani, Dawood, and LeT; Faiza Outallah and Washington Post were telling lies to fix LeT and Pakistan; the SIMI officials' Narco evidence was fabricated, and Rehman Mallik's confession about Pakistani involvement was false. It was how the Samjhauta focus shifted from LeT and SIMI to Purohit and via Purohit on to saffron.

The Maharashtra ATS's attempt to link Malegaon 2008 to Samjhauta, which shifted the focus away from LeT on to Col. Purohit was clearly under political direction.

"RSS and BJP were behind the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts" declared the then Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on January 20, 2012, adding that the training camps run by the RSS and BJP were promoting ‘Hindu terrorism.' Hafiz Saeed, the leader of LeT, welcomed it and asked for a ban on the RSS. How ridiculous!!

India will forever remain indebted to Tukaram Ombale for catching Ajmal Kassab alive, or, we would not have been able to prove that India was a victim of terror attacks from across the border.

Back to chronology of the case:

The investigation was completed on 20 January 2009, and the first charge-sheet in the matter was filed.
In July 2009, a special court trying the case dropped the MCOCA charges against the accused.
The MCOCA charges restored by the Bombay High Court in 2010 on ATS's insistence.
The ATS filed a supplementary charge-sheet on 21 April 2011.
The investigation was handed over to the NIA in April 2011 on directions of Home Minister P. Chidambaram. To know how he handled NIA during his tenure, I strongly recommend this piece.
On April 16, 2015, Supreme Court ruled that there was no "prima facie" evidence that shows that Sadhvi Pragya Singh and Lt. Col. and others were "criminally liable" under the provisions of MCOCA law.
On 6th My, 2016, the NIA Court had filed a compliance report before the Supreme Court, stating that the trial in this matter has not commenced because a charge-sheet has not yet been filed yet. The Supreme Court directed the NIA to file charge-sheet expeditiously.
On May 14, 2016, the NIA filed a supplementary Charge-sheet.

The scathing details of the supplementary Charge-sheet:
The charge-sheet is a scathing indictment of the methods used by the Karkare-led ATS. NIA mentioned that "There are several inherent legal lacunas and complications in the charge-sheet filed by ATS, and it was not relying on such evidence."

On MCOCA:

"ATS Mumbai invoked MCOCA on the basis of the involvement of accused Rakesh Dhawade in the previous two blast cases i.e. Parbhani and Jalna in which the concerned courts had taken the cognizance. The way and circumstances in which the ATS invoked the provisions of MCOCA in this case becomes questionable", the NIA charge-sheet said.

According to the NIA charge-sheet, a case was registered in November 2003 in Parbhani bomb blasts. The charge-sheet was filed against two accused persons Sanjay Choudhary and Himanshu Panse. While in September 2006 first supplementary charge-sheet was filed against accused Maruthi Keshav Wagh and Yogesh Deshpande.

"The second supplementary charge-sheet was filed against accused Rakesh Dhawade on November 13, 2008, immediately after his arrest on November 11, 2008, i.e., within two days of his arrest (in Parbhani case)," the NIA said. "This raises considerable doubt on the integrity of invoking of MCOCA by ATS," the charge-sheet said.

The NIA also mentioned that Col. Purohit and eight others should be tried under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) as accused in the Malegaon blasts case, but recommended that the charges under Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) be dropped. The switch of Acts means the alleged confessional statements of the accused and testimonies of witnesses before police officers will not be treated as evidence anymore.


On Karkare led ATS's Dubious Method:

The NIA also targeted the ATS of using torture to extract the confessional statement from the accused and the invoking of MCOCA provisions against them. The NIA further targets ATS claiming in its charge sheet that witnesses were "threatened, tortured or coerced" to give statements and also threatened witnesses to implicate them falsely in the case. "The dubious method adopted during the investigation by ATS becomes crystal clear from the disappearance of one of the main witnesses," the NIA said.

NIA DG Sharad Kumar also said that an important ‘case diary,' was missing from the ATS's records. "We have mentioned in the charge sheet how the statements of the then accused, Praveen Takkalki, were twisted, and the word ‘bomb' was deliberately inserted. Report.

With no intention to incriminate an officer who was assassinated during 26/11 terror attack, but I must share here a tweet of Madhu Kishwar, who is known for her detailed counter examination of all the Hindu-Terror related cases.



The NIA is also likely to mention before the UAPA court that evidence against the key accused, Colonel Prasad Purohit, was fabricated, and the probe led by former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was flawed, and statements of witnesses were taken under duress.

The NIA director also said that it was for the courts to decide on what action should be taken against police officers who planted "false evidence" in the case.

On Col. Purohit:

Those who tracked the UPA's Saffron-Terror ploy, would be surprised reading the NIA's sensational charge that the ATS under Hemant Karkare (who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks), planted evidence to frame Col. Purohit, a military intelligence officer who was tasked with tracking terrorists. The central agency alleged that an ATS sub-inspector Shekhar Bagde, left traces of RDX in the house of another accused, retired Army personnel Sudhakar Chaturvedi, in Deolali.

The NIA has contended that after it had taken over the case, it found several key Army officials had not been examined. It, therefore, recorded the statement of eight "fresh witnesses" who contributed to the investigations, these were senior officers, including a Colonel and Major.

The NIA in its charge sheet cited the testimony of an Army major and a Subedar to claim that Bagde broke into Chaturvedi's house to allegedly deposit traces of RDX. They also told a Court of Inquiry (the Court of Inquiry conducted by the Armed Forces gave Col. Purohit a clean chit.) hearing Col. Puroit's appeal that Bagde pleaded with them not to report him. Two days later, however, an ATS team raided the house and picked up the RDX traces similar to the one used in Malegaon blasts by using the cotton swab. "This recovery itself becomes suspicious," the NIA told the court. However, the NIA clarified that the shortcomings in the ATS probe were "no reflection on the competence and sacrifices of Hemant Karkare."

The NIA also dismissed the charge against Col. Purohit that he kept part of a haul of RDX he had recovered as a military intelligence officer in J&K, claiming that their inquiries with the Army established that all 70kg of the explosive confiscated during Purohit's time was accounted for.


On Sadhvi Pragya:

Justifying its decision to drop charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, the NIA charge-sheet said, "The evidence on record against her is not sufficient to prosecute her as all the witnesses have retracted their statements. Thus, no case is made out against her." ATS's case against the Sadhvi rested on the fact that she owned the LML Freedom motorcycle which was rigged with explosives to carry out the blasts. However, NIA claimed that after reassessing evidence, it had come to the conclusion that she had handed over the motorcycle to another fugitive accused Ramchandra Kalsangra long back before the blasts.

The charge that she attended a meeting in Bhopal to plot the Malegaon blasts could not be proved because two witnesses, Yashpal Bhadana, and R P Singh, retracted their statements about her presence at the meet. "The Maharashtra ATS said that Lokesh Sharma, an accused, was also part of the Abhinav Bharat meeting where it was decided to target Malegaon, but our investigations show that he was in prison at the time of the blast," said Mr. Kumar. Similarly, NIA said no case was made out against the five other accused — Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh.

The special public prosecutor, Rohini Salian's claimed that NIA had been asking her to go soft on them. However, her accusation was not only denied but rubbished by the NIA. While dealing with such an important case, the ATS could not have been so careless as not to have recorded the ‘confessions' before a magistrate. The ATS was working on the case during a Congress-NCP regime.

There are now two charge-sheets before the special court — one filed by ATS and the other filed by NIA. The court has taken cognizance of both the charge-sheets. It is now up to the court to decide on framing the charges and determining which of the charge sheet is to be pursued.

There are many ways to look at the clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya and others. They have been in detention for the last one decade on grounds that their detention was required for the investigation. The dropping of Pragya Thakur's name from the charge-sheet had exposed the heinous political game started by Congress when it was in power. Congress invented saffron terror and tried to portray Hindus as terrorists for their crooked vote bank politics. However, This is just the beginning of even more shocking exposes.

However, despite keeping these people in custody for decades, the Congress government failed to prove the charges. The Indian State and all of us should hang our heads in shame. This woman has her life, her sanity, her health, her dignity, everything destroyed. What's the restitution for being put in jail for no reason, or for the mere ineptitude of the investigating agencies, starting with the local police, the ATS, and later, the NIA?

The Bigger Question:

It appears that even in serious cases involving national security, ‘not enough evidence' after nearly a decade of investigation raises serious doubts about the professionalism of the investigators. It also questions the lack of the forensic ability of the investigating agencies.

Secondly, the culpability of the state in keeping people in the slammer, under indefinite detention, and describing them as ‘accused' should mean someone should pay a price. The Congress party and its culpable ministers in your opinion?

If the ‘main accused', are now left out of the charge-sheet, then who carried out the blasts in Malegaon? If the real culprits are not in the net, where are they and what are they up to? And more importantly, have they been involved in other terror activities? If the NIA is correct, it will have to find those who carried out the blasts, and prove its case professionally.on Blast Case & The Dubious Investigation

Saffron Terror Myth: Concocted Theory Falls Flat

Date: 23-Apr-2018


Congress Party concealed the realities of Islamic terrorist attacks by conceiving the myth of the “saffron terror”

Shwetank Bhushan



In Mecca Masjid Bombing while Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and LeT were involved,
Swami Aseemanand was implicated

Bharatiya Janta Party attacked the Congress following the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand and four others in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast, affirming that the Congress had defamed Hindus by using the term “saffron terror” and demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi. However, lying to their teeth, Congress has asserted that there is nothing called as ‘saffron terror' and the party is of the firm belief that terror cannot be linked to any religion or community. Congress has also asserted that its leader Rahul Gandhi or the party had never used the phrase.

It is a historical fact that under the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty led- United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, communal wedge was driven in the social harmony of this country, when they coined the term- ‘Saffron Terror’. It was used to vilify the whole Hindu population.

It was a systematic and well-organised plot to demonise Hindus to appease Muslims in its ugliest form of political means. We must expose these sinister conspiracies by examining all these events and deconstructing their designs.

Malegaon Blasts (2006)

A series of bomb blasts took place in Malegaon, a town in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. Most of the blast victims were Muslim pilgrims.

In this incident, police investigations have determined that the explosives contained in these bombings were “a cocktail of RDX, Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil, the same mixture used in July 2006 Mumbai train bombings (a terror incident) for which several Islamist groups were suspects.” Since the investigation was still under way, Nasik Superintendent of Police, Rajvardhan declined to give details, saying: “We can’t say anything till we get reports from all the agencies”, but soon released the sketches of two suspects.

“The bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community”
— Rahul Gandhi to US Ambassador Timothy Roemar, via WikiLeaks


On October 30, The Times of India reported that in Malegaon blast case, Noor-Ul-Hooda, an activist of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was arrested first. On October 13, the Director General of Police (Mumbai) Mr. Pasricha said that they were very close to cracking the case and claimed to have identified the perpetrators. On November 6, The Times of India reported from Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) Maharashtra said that the prime conspirator Shabbir Batterywala is an operative of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the co-conspirator is Raees Ahmad of SIMI.

On September 12, 2006, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “It will be inappropriate for us to rule out anything or rule in anything. I think there should be a fair investigation which inspires confidence and brings out the truth and nothing but the truth without any pre-conceived notion. That has to be the objective”.

Alas! The Maharashtra ATS had prima facie ruled out the involvement of Hindu Nationalist groups.

Samjhauta Express Blasts (2007)

The twin blasts shook two coaches of the Samjhauta Express around midnight in which sixty-eight people were killed in the ensuing fire and dozens were injured.

It has been allegedly linked to Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu group. In November 2008, it was reported that the Maharashtra ATS suspected the attacks were linked to Prasad Shrikant Purohit, an Indian army officer and a member of Abhinav Bharat.

Purohit himself claimed that he had “infiltrated” the Abhinav Bharat. During an army's Court of Inquiry, 59 witnesses stated to the court along with Officers who testified that Purohit was doing his job of gathering intelligence inputs by infiltrating extremist organisations. Col. Purohit was given a clean chit by the Army's Court of Inquiry.



Muslim Perpetrators of Malegaon Blast were given a free pass, while an innocent Sadhavi and an Army officer were booked

Now comes the interesting part. Except for the Indian investigators, all others pointed fingers at the LeT to be responsible.

“Qasmani Arif, the chief coordinator of LeT, has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks including, the bombing of February 2007 in the Samjhauta Express (India).” This is what resolution (No. 1267) of the Committee on Sanctions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) dated June 6, 2009 declares. Adding that Qasmani was funded by Dawood Ibrahim and he did fund-raising for LeT and Al-Qaida, the UNSC said: “In exchange for their support, Al-Qaida provided support staff for the bombing in the Samjhauta Express in Panipat.”



Samjhauta Express Blast— What the UN says?

Arif Qasmani has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks, to include the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani utilized money that he received from Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian crime figure and terrorist supporter, to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India… Between 2004 and 2005, Qasmani provided al Qaida with supplies and weapons and facilitated the movement of al Qaida leaders in and out of Afghanistan. In return for Qasmani’s support, al Qaida provided Qasmani with operatives to support the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India.

Source: ‘Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee Adds Names of Three Individuals to Consolidated List’, United Nations Security Council, June 29, 2009



Not just UN or US Treasury or just the admission of Pakistan’s interior minister, in fact, independent investigation in the US revealed more. Some ten months later, Sebastian Rotella, a US journalist, wrote in his investigative report titled, “US agencies were forewarned about suspect in 2008 Mumbai bombings” that Faiza Outalha, the third wife of David Coleman Headley had confessed [in 2008, that was made public in 2010] that Headley was involved in Samjhauta blast.

“There is the recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past”
— P Chidambaram at Conference of State police chiefs and Inspector-Generals of Police, August 25, 2010

Why did NIA not name Arif Qasmani as suspect/accused in the Samjhauta blast? Why did it not seek the extradition of Arif Qasmani from Pakistan? What effort did the NIA make to secure the evidence on the basis of which the UNSC had declared Arif Qasmani as the accused in the Samjhauta blast? What effort did it make to secure the evidence on the basis of which the US Treasury Department had declared Arif Qasmani as the perpetrator? Did the NIA write to the Ministry of External Affairs or the Interpol directly for assistance from the US and the UN in the above? Whether it asked the MEA to seek the co-operation of the group established between India and Pakistan for sharing of the information? The UPA government did nothing.

When leads were thus pointing to Pakistan and SIMI as partners in Samjhauta blast, the Maharashtra ATS shockingly told the Special Court through the public prosecutor that Col Purohit, was allegedly involved in the Malegaon blast in which RDX was used. Later, the ATS counsel retracted from the statement he had made earlier involving Col Purohit in the Samjhauta blast. But the damage was already done. Pakistan immediately raised the issue of Col. Purohit’s involvement in Samjhauta Blasts.

Finally the Maharastra ATS officially denied that Col Purohit had supplied RDX for Samjhauta. This was how the Samjhauta focus—later the blame—shifted from LeT and SIMI to Col Purohit and via Purohit on to the Hindus. The Maharashtra ATS attempt to link Malegaon 2008 to Samjhauta which shifted the focus away from LeT on to Purohit needs to be probed, particularly given Dawood Ibrahim’s deep influence in Maharastra Police.

Mecca Masjid Bombing (2007)
In the Mecca Masjid bombing in Hyderabad, 14 people were reported dead, in which the IED contained Cyclotol, a 60:40 mixture of RDX and TNT. It is important to note as they are specially used by the Islamic Terror outfits. The SIT of Hyderabad Police arrested ‘South India commander’ of the LeT, identified as Shaik Abdul Khaja alias Amjad, from Afzalgunj area of the city. Police said that the arrested was linked to Mohammed Abdul Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the bombing.



“Reports have come during investigation that BJP and RSS conduct terror training camps to spread terrorism... This is saffron terrorism”
— Sushil Kumar Shinde, then Minister of Home Affairs while addressing the Media on January 20, 2013


The South Asia Terrorism Portal, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, the National Counterterrorism Center of the United States, and the United Nations reported that Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) was actually behind the blasts. The South Asia Terrorism Portal cited Vikar Ahmed as the main suspect in the blast. Mohammed Abdul Shahid Bilal, former chief of HuJI’s Indian operations, was also regarded as a key suspect in the Mecca Masjid bombing, later he was shot by unknown gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan on August 30, 2007.

Surprisingly, the NIA, the CBI and ATS questioned former members of the RSS and on November 9, 2010, the CBI produced Swami Aseemanand before the court in connection with the Blast.

It is explicit from the NIA charge-sheet that Aseemanand’s retracted confession (later found to be obtained under duress) almost exclusively constitutes the backbone of the NIA case. The leak of Aseemananda’s alleged confession to the media (Tehelka), which is shocking and deliberate, was part of the design to politicise the case, conduct and conclude a media trial, and to create, at the global level, the notion of “Saffron (Hindu) Terror” for political purposes of the ruling party, Congress.

Ajmer Dargah Attack (2007)

The Ajmer Dargah blast occurred outside the Dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan allegedly by the RSS and its groups. On October 22, 2010, five accused, of which four allegedly belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were arrested in connection with the blast.
The NIA court in Ajmer framed murder charges against seven persons, including key accused Aseemanand. Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chandrashekhar Leve, Bharat Mohan Rateshwar, Jarshad Bhai and Mukesh Wasani have also been charged under sections 302 and 307 of IPC.


Why an Army officer was framed?

The answer is simple. Col. Purohit knew too much.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) says that it had issued series of alerts regarding the build-up of Burdwan module, which was interestingly first spotted in 2007 by Col. Purohit. He also spoke at length about the creation of an Islamic Necklace which would include the states of Assam, West Bengal, and Tripura. Colonel Purohit had, in fact, claimed several times that he had become a target.

Col. Purohit’s counsel alleged that Purohit with a distinguished service record in the army, was being victimised for political reasons and that he could even be eliminated for possessing key intelligence data of sensitive natures pertaining to SIMI and ISI operations, which could embarrass some top political quarters.


CNN-IBN had reported that it was Home Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, who forced Bhavesh Patel to implicate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. In his letter, Patel also blamed several other UPA ministers, including Minister of State for Home RPN Singh, Coal Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, for trying to frame Sri Bhagwat.

Soon after the change of government at the Centre in 2014, it was decided that the hearings in the case would be fast-tracked and at least five hearings would be held every month. It is not at all surprising that one by one many key witnesses, in this case, are turning hostile and the case is getting weakened by the day.
Malegaon Blast (2008)



Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur
Again in this case only on the basis of the bike being used in the blast, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested along with Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu. The said bike once belonged to Sadhvi Pragya, which she sold in 1997 way before she took to a spiritual quest. The Saffron Terror angle was brought in.

On October 25, two more ex-army personnel were also questioned and in two days the total arrest count mounted to seven when the ATS took in Sameer Kulkarni from Bhopal and Sangram Singh from Indore for questioning. According to the ATS, these arrests brought to light the workings of two groups, Rashtriya Jagaran Manch and Abhinav Bharat.

The ATS reported that they were part of an alleged “larger conspiracy”, without elaborating what the conspiracy, or the basis for it, was. Then came the shocking charges made against the ATS by Sadhvi Pragya in an affidavit claiming that the investigating team has lost all moral authority, the manner in which unsubstantiated allegations have been made against army personnel and also detailing how she was physically and psychologically tortured and abused in obscene languages by her interrogators.

Top BJP leaders, including LK Advani expressed their shock and disbelief and asked for a judicial inquiry. The NIA has found no evidence against Col. Purohit or Pragya Singh Thakur, and they have been granted bail, and Aseemanand acquitted.

(The writer is a Business Strategist & columnist on matters of political & strategic issues)