The Anti-Terrorism Squad of Rajasthan is working on the theory that there is a link between the group which carried out the bomb blast at Ajmer Dargah in October 2007 and the forces behind the Malegaon blast almost a year later as well as the explosions at the Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad. It has identified the contacts and after their recent arrests is in hot pursuit of the person who manufactured the bomb used in the blast at Ahat-e-Noor on the Dargah premises.
“The mastermind behind the Ajmer blast, the bomb maker, has been identified. He is yet to be arrested,” said Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal talking to The Hindu here on Saturday.
“The people involved in this case have had involvement in the other bomb blast cases too,” he said, adding, “The centre of their activity was seemingly Madhya Pradesh.”
“Rajasthan ATS has reached up to them. They have identified the persons involved. ATS has collected some important clues,” Mr. Dhariwal said.
However, one lost link in the whole case appears to be Sunil Joshi, who was an RSS pracharak in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow area with whom Devendra Gupta, the first suspect arrested in the Ajmer Dargah case, was associated. Joshi, a resident of Indore, was killed in Dewas in December 2007. The call details of Gupta indicate that both were in touch. Joshi, reportedly the zila pracharak (worker) of RSS in Mhow, had some confrontation with the Congress president of Mhow who later got killed. The murders of the Congress leader's nephew and that of an eyewitness followed.
“They are all connected. Col. Purohit, arrested for Malgaon blast, has confessed that Sunil Joshi had organised the Dargah operation with the help of Devendra Gupta,” Mr. Dhariwal observed. Col. Purohit was reportedly informed about the role of Sunil Joshi by Asimanand. Gupta, who operated in the name of Ramesh Kumar at some places, procured SIM cards under false identities from Jamtada, Asansol and Chittaranjan. The SIM used in the bomb which went off at Ajmer Dargah was procured by him in name of Babulal Yadav.
Though the RSS leadership in New Delhi vehemently denied involvement of RSS functionaries in the Ajmer Dargah bomb blast, Mr.Dhariwal was equally emphatic.
