Raj ATS to file charge sheet against Aseemanand

Jaipur (PTI) The Rajasthan ATS
Thursday said it will file on April 8 a charge sheet in the
Ajmer Dargah blast case against Hindu right-wing activist
Swami Aseemanand, who has moved a court seeking to withdraw
his application to turn a witness in it.
59-year-old Aseemanand, who has made a confessional
statement that he and several other Sangh activists had a
direct role in Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca
masjid blasts, filed his application in the court of Chief
Judicial Magistrate, Ajmer, on Tuesday.
"Aseemanand has requested the court to reject his
earlier application in which he had wished to become a witness
in the Ajmer Dargah blast case. He has stated that he did not
wish to turn a witness," according to a senior officer of the
state's Anti-Terror Squad.
He said the ATS will be filing a charge sheet against
the accused in the Ajmer case on April 8, when it comes up for
further hearing.
The officer said Aseemanand alleged in the court that
the investigating agencies were "not letting him hire a
lawyer".
However, the ATS said that the allegation was untrue
and that the accused had not been pressurised in any manner.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan's Additional Chief Secretary
(Home) P K Deb said here that the Ajmer case is likely to be
handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) as the
Central government feels that the same radical groups were
involved in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and certain
other cases.
"Ajmer Dargah blast case will be handed over to the
NIA after the chief minister's approval. The Centre had
forwarded to us a proposal for the same some 25 days ago," Deb
said.
"We after discussion with the state Anti-Terrorist
Squad (ATS) and the law department forwarded the file to Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot and his approval is expected soon," he
said.
"The Centre's contention was that since the same
radical outfits were involved in the blasts in Ajmer Dargah,
Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and Malegaon, the case should be
investigated by the NIA," the officer said.
Aseemamand alias Jatin Chatterjee, who was arrested on
November 19, last year by India's premier invesigating agency,
the CBI, in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast case, had
given his confessional statement in a court in Delhi on
December 18 last year. He was taken into custody by the
Rajasthan ATS on January 22 following a court order.
The 2007 blast at the Dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin
Chishti in Ajmer had left three persons dead and 15
others injured.