Tejaram placed bomb that did not explode, says NIA

NIA seeks transit warrant for 20 days to unravel the Mecca Masjid blast case

Tejaram, who was arrested in connection with Mecca Masjid bomb blest case, at the central prison in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: Arrangement

Tejaram, a mason arrested by the NIA near Indore on Monday, was the person who had placed the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which did not explode in the Mecca Masjid in May 2007, the NIA investigators maintained in his remand case diary that was submitted to a court here on Thursday.

The IED, however, did not explode and was defused by the bomb disposal squad (BDS) after another IED placed under the marble platform (takht) went off killing nine persons.

The IED which exploded under the marble platform was concealed by Tejaram’s associate Rajender Choudary alias Samundar, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in the remand case diary.

Tejaram’s involvement in the Mecca Masjid blast came to light during the interrogation of Rajendar Choudary, who is presently in police custody. Choudary was arrested in connection with Samjhauta Express blast case. The agency then arrested Tejaram alias Tejaram Parmar alias Khalifa at Depalpur near Indore on Monday and recovered a driving licence, a voter identity card, a mobile phone and other documents along with Rs. 630 in cash from him. The NIA obtained a prisoner’s transit warrant and brought him to Hyderabad.

Six persons named

The CBI had named six persons among whom Devender Gupta (A1), Lokesh Sharma (A2) and Nabakumar Sarkar alias Swami Asimanand (A6) were arrested. Sandeep V. Dange (A3) and Ramchandra Kalsangara (A4) are still at large while one more accused, Sunil Joshi (A5) alias Manoj, was murdered at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh while the investigation was on. The Central government later handed over all the blast cases to the NIA. During the course of investigation, the agency arrested Bharat Mohanlal Rateswar alias Bharat Bhai (A7) for providing logistic support to carry out the blast.

NIA files petition

Meanwhile, the NIA filed a petition in the Nampally court seeking custody of Tejaram for 20 days to enable it to travel with him as part of the investigation.

The court, however, posted the matter to Friday and directed the jail authorities to lodge him in a special cell.