Panchkula: A local court here Thursday extended the judicial custody of Samjhauta blast case accused Swami Aseemanand till June seven after the investigating agency NIA assured the Judge that a charge sheet will be filed against him before the next date of hearing.
The hearing in the case took place through
video-conferencing with the accused lodged in central jail in
Ambala.
The defence submitted that the NIA team, which sought
a permission from the court to interrogate Aseemanand for two
days on Saturday and Sunday last, did not turn up even as the
Swami`s advocate was present on the both the occasions.
The prosecution has failed to do justice as it had
asked the court to give it two days time to further
interrogate the alleged accused, the defence told the court.
The prosecution, however, today assured the court that
it would file the charge sheet in the case by June seven or
before it.
Accused Swami Aseemanand`s, whose bail plea was
rejected by a sessions court here on May 12, had already
denied having made any statement to the National Investigation
Agency about his involvement in the Samjhauta blast case.
Aseemanand, through his counsel, had charged the NIA
with pressurising and torturing him mentally and physically to
extort a statement from him.
A total of 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed
in Samjhauta Express blast, at Panipat`s Diwana village.
Earlier on May 7, a CBI court at Jaipur, Rajasthan,
had also rejected his bail application in the 2007 Ajmer
Dargah blast case.
Apart from Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three
lives and left 15 others injured, Aseemanand is an accused in
several other blast cases across the country, including those
at Hyderabad`s Mecca Masjid and Malegaon.
He was arrested by the CBI last year from Haridwar for
his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast case.
PTI
