Samjhauta blasts: 4 witnesses turn hostile in NIA court

PANCHKULA: Four out of five witnesses who deposed in Samjhauta blast case on Friday turned hostile at the NIA court here.
Among those who turned hostile were Sunil Bhai Arjun Bhai, Kishore Bhai Babu Bhai, Mansu Bhai Rama Bhai and Phool Chand Bhai Khewat Bhai. Fifth witness Jayanti Bhai Purushottam Bhai had reiteriated the statement recorded in December 2012.
All the five witnesses are from Shabridham temple of Dang district in Gujarat.In their statements recorded before NIA they had identified Aseemanand, Lokesh and Manoj alias Sunil Joshi and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. They also claimed that Aseemanand used to stay in Shabridham and warned people against making any statements before any investigating agencies.
In their statement before NIA court here on Friday, barring Jayanti Bhai who was the trustee of the temple and an old RSS man, all others turned hostile and denied their statements.
In the case 188 witnesses’ statements were recorded so far. Out of this, 40 have turned hostile.
On June 20, 2011, the NIA had filed a charge sheet against Aseemanand and others submitting that he was the mastermind of the blasts and instigated others to carry out terrorist strikes. As many as 68 people were killed when bombs were set off on February 18, 2007 in two coaches of Samjhauta Express, running between Delhi and Lahore, at Diwana near Panipat.
Aseemanand was termed as main accused by NIA after the death of Sunil Joshi, an alleged chief conspirator and executor of the blasts. Joshi was shot dead in Dewas in MP on December 29, 2007. According to NIA, Aseemanand's telephone number was found in a personal diary of Sunil Joshi under the `emergency numbers' category, indicating closeness.