NIA needs to piece together ‘saffron terror’ puzzles fast

NEW DELHI: Twist and turns into what was known as ‘saffron terror ‘ cases in the past one month has snowballed into a major political tug of-war between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
With questions being raised in the manner in which the investigation is progressing, it is likely that the probe in Samjhauta, Malegaon, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid may meet a similar fate as witnessed in 2009 Goa blasts where all members of Sanatan Sansthan were acquitted.

This will be a huge setback for NIA which in the past had painstakingly collected evidence to prove the role of right wing radicals in these blasts. ET takes a close look in the manner in which these cases are stacked now.



BACKGROUND: The first breakthrough came after the 2008 Malegaon blasts when Maharashtra ATS arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh and a serving colonel of the Indian Army, Lt Col Srikant Prasad Purohit. However, within a month of the arrest, Hemant Karkare, the joint CP heading the probe, died during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, throwing investigations out of gear.

Two years later, in 2010, the Rajasthan ATS, probing the 2007 Ajmer Dargah case, arrested Lokesh Sharma and Devendra Gupta, both associated with the RSS. The duo named Swami Aseemanand and former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi who had convinced them to carry out attacks in Ajmer and Mecca Masjid.

This was the first hint that these attacks had a common thread running through them. CBI arrested Aseemanand who first confessed and later retracted his involvement.

But his earlier confession recently helped nine innocent Muslim youths, who had been arrested for the 2006 Malegaon blasts, get discharge on Monday.

WHAT HAS CHANGED NOW? In the past two year, NIA which earlier blamed Rashtraiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres for the blasts seems to dragging its feet under BJP.

RSS is regarded as the parent organization of BJP. The agency did not file an appeal against the Punjab & Haryana high court order granting bail to Aseemanand in 2014.

DG NIA Sharad Kumar during his recent visit to United States sought their help in Lashkar financer Arif Qasmani’s role in Samjhauta blast.

Kumar says he asked for help keeping in mind the defence may raise this point. Kumar who retired last year in October was given a one year extension without any explanation by the home ministry. He is also under fire from the Congress demanding his resignation.

Rohini Salian, NIA special public prosecutor in 2006 and 2008 Malegaon blasts has gone on record saying that she was asked not to get favourable orders from the courts in these cases.

NIA denied the allegations but went ahead proposing to drop MCOCA against Sadhvi, Purohit and others. Senior lawyer Majeed Memon told ET, “If MCOCA is dropped; the admissibility of confession by accused persons will be lost during the trial” and this may weaken the case.

Two witnesses—Dr R P Singh and Yashpal Bhadana — early this month recorded their statement before a magistrate saying that they were “coerced” by Maharashtra ATS to give a statement. Beside this, NIA recently filed a closure report in 2008 Modasa blast saying that they cannot trace the accused persons.

Other cases — Samjhauta, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid — are under trial and the agency appears helpless with witnesses after witnesses turning hostile. This many believe is a clear indications how a newly set up NIA is going the CBI way that at one point in time was described as ‘caged parrot’ by the Supreme Court.

TASK AHEAD: NIA needs to immediately take stock of the situation and review its strategy as defence will try to take advantage of the political atmosphere. NIA will now have to ensure that other witnesses support their case. Their biggest challenge before them is to locate and nab key accused --Sandeep Dange, Ramji Kalsangre and Amit Chauhan. They were in touch with bomb planters and are the missing piece in the big jigsaw puzzle.