Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday denied that he had ever met Bhavesh Patel, one of the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case accused, who had alleged that some senior leaders, including Mr. Shinde, pressured him to name top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders in the case.
“I do not know any Bhavesh Patel … I have never met him. If someone takes my name, what can I do,” Mr. Shinde told journalists here.
Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh, whose name also figures in the controversy, too denied having met the blast accused. “I deny this totally. The allegations are baseless. I was not even the Minister of State for Home at the time he was referring to. It has been only 11 months since I took charge in the Home Ministry,” Mr. Singh said.
In a five-page petition to a NIA court, Bhavesh Patel had claimed that he was made to meet Mr. Shinde, Mr. Singh, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and senior Congress leaders, including Digvijay Singh, who pressured him to name RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and another top functionary Indresh Kumar in the case. Patel is accused of having provided logistics support to those who carried out the blast inside the famous shrine.
