12 Years After Samjhauta Express Blast That Killed 68 People, NIA Court Acquits All 4 Accused

A Panchkula court on Wednesday acquitted all the four accused, including Aseemanand in the Samjhauta blast case.

Earlier today, the court had dismissed an application filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country. Special NIA Judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea of Rahila Wakeel filed by her lawyer Momin Malik.

Wakeel, the daughter of blast victim Muhammad Wakeel, had alleged that the people from her country did not receive proper summons from the court or were denied visas by the authorities. However, the NIA had denied the allegation, saying all witnesses were summoned through the High Commission of Pakistan.

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The other three accused, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary, were also acquitted by the court.

The blast in Samjhauta Express had occurred near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. The blast killed 68 people, mostly Pakistani nationals.

Haryana police had registered a case, but the probe was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in July 2010.

After its probe, the NIA filed chargesheet in the case in June 2011, indicting eight persons for their alleged roles in the terror attack. Of the eight persons, Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary appeared before the court and faced trial. Blast mastermind Sunil Joshi was killed in December 2007, while three other accused - Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Amit could not be apprehended and were declared proclaimed offenders. Aseemanand is out on bail while three others are still in judicial custody.

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The NIA had charged the accused with murder and criminal conspiracy, besides other relevant provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Railways Act.

In its probe, the NIA had concluded that the accused were upset with the terror attacks on Hindu temples - Akshardham (Gujarat), Raghunath Mandir (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan Mandir (Varanasi). They had conspired together to trigger the blast in the Pak-bound train, largely carrying Pakistani nationals, to avenge the spate of terror attacks in various temples of the country.

The accused had conspired and propounded a theory of 'bomb ka badla bomb', the NIA had said in its chargesheet. As per the NIA probe, the accused were given training in Madhya Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana for making bombs and firing pistols. The NIA chargesheet dubbed Sunil Joshi as the mastermind of the blast plot with active help from other accused, including Aseemanand. The explosives were stuffed in suitcases, which were planted in the train by Lokesh, Rajinder, Kamal and Amit, said the NIA chargesheet.