Samjhauta train blasts: Hindu leader sent to police custody

PANCHKULA - Hindu religious leader Swami Aseemanand was Thursday sent to a day’s police custody by a court here in connection with the 2007 Samjhauta train blasts in Haryana that killed 68 people.

Aseemanand was presented in the court of the additional district and sessions judge who sent him to one-day police remand. He would be presented in a special NIA court Friday.

No mediaperson was allowed to enter the court while Aseemanand was presented before the court.

He was brought here from Hyderabad. He is also an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad.

Aseemanand was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Nov 19 from the religious town of Haridwar in Uttarakhand for his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Tuesday sought permission from a court here to present Aseemanand before it and question his role in the Samjhauta Express blasts Feb 18, 2007 at Diwana village near the industrial town of Panipat, 160 km from here.

The blasts took place in two bogies of the Samjhauta Express, a peace train between India and Pakistan. A majority of the 68 victims were Pakistani nationals.

The train was going from Delhi to Attari, the last station on the Indian side. The passengers were to board the Samjhauta Express train to Lahore city in Pakistan the next day (Feb 19).

The CBI, railway police, Haryana police and other investigating agencies had failed to make any headway in the train blast case in nearly four years.