Cong demands removal of NIA chief probing Samjhauta blasts

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 5

Alleging compromises with ongoing probes in the Ajmer dargah and Samjhauta blasts probes, the Congress today demanded removal of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief handling the cases.

The party, while calling for the Supreme Court-monitored trial of the two cases, also sought reinstatement of Rohini Salian, Advocate as Special Public Prosecutor in the Malegaon blast case. The Congress’ demands came after evidence that 14 of the 15 witnesses in the Ajmer case and three key witnesses in the Samjhauta blasts case had turned hostile making the years-long investigation almost infructuous.

“Almost all those who turned hostile have deep links with the RSS, an essential cog wheel of the ruling dispensation today. Can any stretch of creative imagination describe these somersaults by witnesses as merely coincidental? It is a prima facie case of subversion of investigation and therefore the judicial process,” Congress media chief Randeep Surjewala said today.

He said the NIA Director General, who is squarely responsible for these politically motivated omissions and commissions, should be immediately removed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh should come out clear on their role in compromising the integrity of on-going trials in these cases.

The Congress also called for immediate sacking of Randhir Singh, who was made minister in Jharkhand after he turned hostile.

“NIA, the premier investigative arm of the government, has been turned into a partisan, subservient and toothless body, parroting the line set by its political masters. We first witnessed that public prosecutors with high integrity were asked to go soft on the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, by the new government in power and now we see that in a strange manner witnesses are turning hostile in the Ajmer dargah and Samjhauta blasts cases,” Surjewala said.