By TCN Staff Reporter,
Jaipur: Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar along with four other accused, have been charge sheeted on Friday by the Rajasthan Anti terror Squad (ATS) in connection with 2007 Ajmer blast.
According to the Rajasthan ATS, Indresh Kumar along with several other leaders of RSS attended a secret meeting on October 31 2005 in Jaipur, where the blast conspiracy was hatched.
The accused have been charged with sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (conspiracy) and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship) of IPC among others.
Indresh Kumar [Photo by ratedesi.com]
The 806-page charge sheet was filed by the Anti-Terrorist Squad in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jagendra Kumar Jain.
133 witnesses have been named by the prosecution. The court fixed October 26 for arguments on the charge sheet.
The highly revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi in Ajmer witnessed a terror strike first nearly time in its history, when a bomb went off inside the complex on a Thursday evening of October 11, 2007, killing four persons and injuring 28 others as thousands of Muslims were breaking their day-long Ramzan fast.
Reacting to news of ATS chargesheet, the RSS leader however has denied any involvement and termed the chargesheet as a “political conspiracy.”
Congress on the other hand has considered the RSS to be always responsible for such blasts. The Hindutva organization wants to destroy the pluralistic ethos of India, the party alleged.
Ajmer blast which claimed three lives in 2007 [Photo by Thehindu.com]
Muslim suspects wrongly picked up
It is important to mention here that during the initial course of investigation in this case, Muslim community had to bear the brunt for what turned out to be a Hindutva terror attack.
For the time line of Ajmer blast investigation, please read
http://www.twocircles.net/2010jun15/ajmer_blast_investigation_media_2007_and_2010.html
The police picked up many clergymen and madrasa teachers during the investigation. Khushbur Rahman, a teacher in a Rajasthani madrasa, was arrested on October 25, 2007, from his home in Jharkhand and released on November 6 on want of evidence. Moulvi Imran Ali was picked up as per the clues given by Khushbur Rahman.
One person named Bashir was arrested by the UP police. He is reported to have given clues about Moulvi Abdul Hafiz Shamim who also ran a madrasa besides being the moulvi in a local masjid. Moulvi was reportedly tortured in police custody for 18 days and then set free for lack of evidence.
It was only in 2010 that after much denial the Rajasthan ATS finally nailed the Hindutva activists. The ATS arrested Devender Gupta, a member of the RSS, from Ajmer on April 30, 2010. It was followed by the arrest of Chandrashekhar Barod and Vishnu Patidhar from Madhya Pradesh on May 1
It was only after these arrests that the Indian media toned down its obsession with the alleged Islamist terrorists.