Ajmer Blast accused writes a letter to NIA stating that he was forced by some high rank UPA ministers to speak against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
In a possible jolt to the UPA government, 2007 Ajmer Blast accused Bhavesh Patel has written a letter to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stating that he was forced by some high rank UPA ministers to speak against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and his close aid Indresh Kumar implicating them in the case.
In his application to the CBI court, Bhavesh Patel, who was arrested in March, has alleged that Acharya Pramod Krishnan of Moradabad had facilitated his meetings with Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, his deputy R P N Singh and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, all of who wanted him to implicate the RSS leaders.
Patel’s counsel Bhupendra Singh Chouhan said Patel would make the same statement in court on Thursday.
According to the NIA chargesheet, Patel is alleged to have provided logistical support to a saffron terror module for the attack and carried the bomb inside the Dargah.
According to media reports, in November 2002, Patel was introduced to Digvijay Singh by Krishnan in his ashram. “I told him about my case. ‘Digvijay Singhji ne kaha tum nishchint raho. Samay aane par jaisa hum kahen, waisa karna’ (Digvijay Singh told me not to worry and in time, do as he says),” he said.
Patel alleged Krishnan later arranged meetings with R P N Singh and Jaiswal, who told him Digvijay Singh had apprised them about his case and that he would be absolved if he did their bidding. He also claimed Krishnan took him to “some place” in Delhi where Shinde was present.
“Sushil Kumar Shinde told me ‘when you are brought to the court, you have to name Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar and you have to say that you engineered the blast in Ajmer Dargah as per their directions’,” Patel alleged. He, however, claimed he did not eventually name Indresh or Bhagwat “as my conscience did not allow me.”
The letter, which is sure to kick a political storm, is oddly times with allegations of other accused (of Hindu extrimism) against NIA. Interestingly, Patel had earlier claimed that there was no political pressure on him.
At the moment, entire BJP is busy with its Bhopal rally where Rajnath Singh mentioned the case to inform the people present in the rally. But the party is yet to come up with an official statement. However, Patel’s stunning accusations have evoked sharp reactions from the RSS. Claiming that Patel’s letter is strong evidence, RSS leader Ram Madhav said, “We have been saying from the beginning that there is a conspiracy against Hindu organisations, specifically against the RSS and its leaders. We are calling for an unbiased probe.”
Meanwhile, all the four Congress leaders named in the letter have denied any meeting between them and the accused. Although Congress party hit back saying there is no question of anyone putting pressure on Patel into naming Indresh Kumar and the RSS chief as the two are not named in the FIR filed by the CBI in the 2007 Ajmer blast case.
On Tuesday, the NIA court in Ajmer framed murder charges against seven persons, including key accused Aseemanand, in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case.
Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chandrashekher Leve, Bharat Mohan Rateshwar, Jarshad Bhjai and Mukesh Wasani have also been charged under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC.
They have also been booked under the Explosives Act for causing an explosion at the Dargah to create terror and under the Unlawful Activities Act for causing communal disharmony and waging war against the State.
The two FIRs were initially registered at Ajmer in 2007 and subsequently the investigation was transferred to NIA in 2011.
The court framed charges based on the NIA charge sheet. Three persons were killed and 20 injured in the blasts in October 2007.
