NIA to compare Samjhauta blast forensic evidence with other blasts

A local court Tuesday allowed the NIA to compare next week forensic evidence collected in Samjhauta Express train blast case with that of bomb attacks in Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer, in which the role of right-wing Hindu extremists is suspected.

Following a High Court direction, District and Sessions Judge Subhash Mehla, hearing charges against Swami Assemanand and four other accused in the 2007 Samjhauta case, said forensic experts from National Investigation Agency (NIA) can study the sealed material on September 20-21.

The judge adjourned the case till October 10, when arguments on the charges will be taken up.

Since the proceedings in the case were in-camera, defence counsel Manveer Rathi later told reporters outside the court that forensic experts will come to Panchkula next week for comparison of material at Sector 5 police lines.

He said the court has allowed him to remain present at the time of scrutiny.

Chandigarh-based senior advocate RK Handa, who was recently appointed Special Public Prosecutor of the NIA in the Samjhauta case, made his first appearance before the court on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed a petition filed by Aseemanand challenging orders of NIA special judge, Panchkula permitting the agency to unseal the seized material in Samjhauta blast case in the presence of counsel for the accused for comparison.

The High Court had also issued directions to the NIA court here to again fix the dates for the exercise.

On August 17, the Court here had permitted NIA to unseal the seized material of the Samjhauta blast case on August 21 and 22 at NIA camp office, Panchkula, but the defence counsel had challenged it in High Court.

The NIA had informed the High Court that various other trial courts at Mumbai, Hyderabad and Jaipur had already granted it permission for making comparison of material found at the blast sites and the initial exercise at all three places has been done by experts of CFSL, Hyderabad.

After a four-year-long probe, the NIA had on June 20, 2011 charged Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Lokesh Sharma, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji with triggering explosions in the cross-border Samjhauta Express that left 68 people dead, mostly Pakistanis.

In the charge sheet filed in June before the vacation court of additional district and sessions judge Kanchan Mahi, the NIA had accused the five of hatching a criminal conspiracy which resulted in bomb blasts in the train.

Aseemanand and Sharma are already in judicial custody in Ambala jail.

Apart from Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three lives and left 15 others injured, Aseemanand and Lokesh Kumar Sharma are accused in several other blast cases across the country, including those at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and Malegaon.