6 months on, NIA yet to challenge dargah blast acquittals

JAIPUR: Almost six months have passed since a special court trying National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases in Jaipur acquitted Swami Aseemanand and six others in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case but the agency is yet to challenge the acquittals.
Delivering verdict in the Dargah blast case on March 8, the special court Judge Dinesh Kumar Gupta convicted Sunil Joshi (who figured in Samjhauta Express and Hyderabad blasts too), Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel.The court, however, acquitted Aseemanand, whom the investigation agency accused of inciting Hindutva radicals to avenge a series of jihadi strikes on Hindu places of worship by attacking Muslim targets.
Idrish Mughal, advocate of Syed Sarwar Chishty who is complainant in the dargah blast case, told TOI that he doubted if NIA would challenge the lower court’s verdict. Mughal claimed there were several ‘gaping holes’ in the case built by the prosecution that allowed Aseemanand to walk out of the jail.
“The prosecution complained about witnesses turning hostile in the court. It, however, did not initiate legal action against witnesses who turned hostile despite making statements on record before the court under CrPC section 164,” said Mughal. He added that it showed lack of intent on the NIA’s part to carry out a free and fair probe devoid of any political pressure.
Public prosecutor Ashwini Kumar Sharma, however, told TOI that he sent his report to NIA but the final decision to challenge the acquittals rested with the agency.
TOI made several attempts to reach NIA, but the agency did not respond to TOI’s queries.
Prosecution earlier claimed that Aseemanand’s confessional statement given before a Delhi court was a strong evidence against him. The special court at Jaipur, however, did not accept it as evidence.
Deciding not to wait any more for NIA to appeal against the acquittals, complainant Chishty has approached the high court on his own. “We waited long for the NIA to challenge the acquittals. But when we did not see any action on the NIA’s part, we decided to move the high court and challenge the clean chits given to Sadhvi Pragya, Indresh and four others as well as the acquittal of Aseemanand,” said Mughal.
Mughal alleged that NIA was not cooperating with him in the legal procedures. “We do not know about NIA’s intentions, so we moved to the high court but the NIA has not provided us articles of evidence that we requested for,” he said.
On October 11, 2007, a powerful bomb went off on the congested premises of the Ajmer Dargah during iftar around 6.14 pm. Three persons were killed and 15 others were injured by the blast.