Ajmer Blast case: Swami Aseemanand acquitted, 3 others convicted by NIA court

Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case, was acquitted along with 10 others while three accused were convicted by National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Jaipur on Wednesday. RSS leader Indresh Kumar was one among those who were let free from all charges.

Ajmer blast case: Swami Aseemanand acquitted, three people found guilty pic.twitter.com/weSClKYvqD

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 8, 2017

Ajmer blast case: The three found guilty by NIA court are Sunil Joshi(already dead), Bhavesh and Devendra Gupta — ANI (@ANI_news) March 8, 2017

According to India Today, the court was expected to deliver the verdict on 25 February but the announcement was deferred till 8 March.

Initially, police had blamed Islamic terror groups for the blast, but later a confession by Aseemanand shifted the focus of the probe towards Hindutva groups. The hearing in this case was completed in the first week of January in which 149 witnesses were examined and 451 documents were produced before the court.

Ajmer shrine after the blasts. Reuters

An NDTV report said, on 11 October 2007, three people were killed and almost 20 were injured in a powerful blast at the Ajmer Dargah. The investigation was handed over in 2011 to the NIA, which had in a chargesheet accused Swami Aseemanand of masterminding the blast. Six others were accused of conspiracy, murder, planting and exploding bombs thus spreading hatred.

Soon after the blasts, a Times of India report said, state police sleuths began rounding up suspects, sent teams across the country and even sought help from other state police. After several failed attempts, the police realised the investigation was heading nowhere. The security establishment was caught off guard when they found the involvement of a Hindu right-wing organisation called Abhinav Bharat.

The investigation was transferred to Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in November 2007, but the first accused Devender Gupta, Lokesh and Chander Mohan were arrested as late as in April 2010. During the preliminary investigation, the local police, special police team, Rajasthan ATS and then NIA investigated the blast. Later, the trial was transferred a designated court in Jaipur for a fast-track trial. (with inputs from the IANS)