Ajmer blast accused says Shinde, Digvijaya made him name RSS
JAIPUR / NEW DELHI: A man charged with the bombing of the Ajmer dargah has accused Congress leaders Sushilkumar Shinde, Digvijaya Singh, RPN Singh and Sriprakash Jaiswal of forcing him to name RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and his aide Indresh Kumar as co-conspirators.
Bhavesh Patel made the claim in a letter to the special NIA court hearing the terror case, his lawyer said.
The Congress leaders denied having ever met Patel and even National Investigation Agency chief Sharad Kumar termed the charges baseless. Digvijaya said there was a need to investigate who had asked Patel to write the letter.
Patel sent the letter from Sawai Man Singh hospital where he was admitted after being brought from Alwas jail, where he was on hunger strike to protest alleged mistreatment by NIA officials. The special court will conduct a hearing on his letter on Thursday.
The terror case dates back to October 11, 2007 when a blast at the Sufi shrine killed three persons. It was initially blamed on the Lashkar-e-Taiba but the investigation later veered towards the involvement of Hindu radicals.
According to sources, after his arrest by the NIA in March, Patel gave a statement before a magistrate — admissible as evidence in court — that seven-eight days before the blast, Suresh Bhai (absconding accused Suresh Nair) invited him to visit Ajmer. Patel was asked to reach Godhra in Gujarat on October 10, where he met Nair. Nair was with Mukesh Vasani, Harshad Solanki (two arrested accused) and three other persons. The group reached Ajmer the next day, went to shrine in the evening and planted two bombs there.
Now, in his letter to the court, Patel has claimed that home minister Shinde and his three party colleagues, investigation officer Vishal Garg and NIA’s supervising IG Sanjeev Kumar Singh are trying to frame Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar. Kumar is already under the agency’s scanner in the case.
“Acharya Pramod Krishnan of Moradabad had organised his client’s (Patel) meeting with Digvijaya Singh, Sushilkumar Shinde, RPN Singh and Sriprakash Jaiswal wherein Shinde allegedly said, ‘when you are taken to court, name Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar and say you engineered the blast in Ajmer dargah under their directions’,” Patel’s lawyer said.
Patel has also claimed that in another meeting, Digvijaya told him, “Tum nischint raho. Samay aane par jaisa hum kahen, waisa karna (don’t worry, do as we say when we tell you).” Shinde and RPN Singh denied the charge outright on Wednesday. “I don’t know any Bhavesh Patel. I have never met him. If someone takes my name, what can I do,” Shinde said.