The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said that it had received a copy of the judgment in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case and was getting it transported to its Delhi headquarters to decide on the next course of action.
A special NIA court in Hyderabad acquitted five accused, including former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member Aseemanand, on April 16.
Officials said there was a delay in getting a copy of the judgment as the judge was making some corrections in the order. “We will examine the order when we get a copy and can decide the next course of action only then,” an NIA official said.
On March 8, 2017, a special court in Jaipur acquitted Aseemanand and six others in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case. Three others were convicted. The NIA did not challenge the acquittals.
On allegations that the NIA’s public prosecutor, N. Harinath, was chosen for his political affiliation, the official said he was selected through the due process of empanelment. “The previous prosecutor, S.K. Ramarao, was on deputation to the NIA from the Andhra Pradesh government. He had been on deputation from June 2011 to June 2014.”
Mr. Harinath, a former Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad member, was engaged by the NIA in 2015. He had no experience in representing terror cases, but had appeared for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in cases of financial fraud.
Political vendetta
Aseemanand, who appeared in a Panchkula court on Saturday, told presspersons that he was “a victim of political vendetta.” He is now facing trial in the 2007 Samjhauta train blast. The train was on its way to Lahore from Delhi. Aseemanand and five others have been chargesheeted by the NIA in the case. He was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High court in August 2014, months after the NDA government came to power.
His lawyer Manbir Rathi told The Hindu that he was expecting the Samjhauta verdict to be in favour of his client. “Aseemanand has been accused of conspiracy and not execution of the blasts. Since he has been acquitted in the Ajmer dargah and Mecca Masjid blasts cases, where he was accused of conspiracy, the charge will not hold in the Samjhauta case. He was made an accused based on the same evidence in all the three cases,” Mr. Rathi said.
He said Aseemanand was living in an ashram at Sabridham in Dang district of Gujarat and had come to attend the hearing in the Panchkula court. Mr. Rathi said his client had not spoken to him about his political ambitions. “His mother lives in West Bengal and he regularly goes there to meet her. He did not say that he will campaign for the BJP in West Bengal, he went back to the Gujarat ashram,” Mr. Rathi said. The next date of hearing is May 4, he said.
