NIA not allowed to question Ajmer dargah blast suspect
September 23rd, 2011 - 10:29 pm ICT by IANSJaipur, Sep 23 (IANS) A court here Friday temporarily restrained the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from questioning Ajmer dargah blast suspect Bharat Rateshwar in the Jaipur Central Jail.
The accused’s lawyer Jagdeesh Rana had approached the special court alleging that the agency was granted permission to interrogate Rateshwar without his lawyers being informed about it.
“NIA had moved an application before the court Sep 19 seeking permission for my client’s interrogation in the jail. The court granted the permission when the defence lawyer was not present for argument,” said the counsel.
The court then restricted NIA from the questioning and fixed Sep 27 as the next date of hearing, he added.
The lawyer alleged that NIA was forcing Rateshwar to turn approver against another key suspect Swami Aseemanand.
Rateshwar had been arrested from his native place of Valsad in Gujarat after he turned hostile and refused to remain a Rajasthan Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) witness. He had earlier recorded a statement before a court against some other blast suspects and even RSS leader Indresh Kumar.
The blast at the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on Oct 11, 2007 had claimed three lives and left 15 injured. The Rajasthan ATS has so far arrested Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chandra Shekhar, Harshad Solanki and Mukesh Vasani from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in this connection.
The Rajasthan High Court recently released one of the accused, Chandra Shekhar, on bail.
NIA has been handed over the probe into various blasts allegedly carried out by right-wing Hindu organizations including the Malegaon and Samjhauta Express bombings.
- Judicial custody of Samjhauta blast accused Aseemanand extended till May 2 - Apr 30, 2011
- Samjhauta blast accused Aseemanand claims innocence - Apr 22, 2011
- Samjhauta blast: Aseemanand sent to judicial custody till Jan. 27 - Jan 13, 2011
- Ajmer blast: Rajasthan cops arrest man in Gujarat - Nov 04, 2010
- Samjhauta blast: Swami Aseemanand produced before Panchkula court - Jan 13, 2011
- Rajasthan ATS granted permission for narco test on Ajmer blast suspect - May 03, 2010
- Anti-terror sqaud traces car used in Ajmer blast - Dec 25, 2010
- Rajasthan ATS takes custody of Swami Aseemanand - Jan 22, 2011
- Rajasthan ATS seeks permission for narco-analysis on Ajmer blast suspect - May 02, 2010
- One more held for Ajmer blast - Nov 03, 2010
- Mecca Masjid blast accused sent to judicial custody - Jan 18, 2012
- Aseemanand confesses to his involvement in Samjhauta, Ajmer blasts - Jan 07, 2011
- Rajasthan ATS files 806-page chargesheet in 2007 Ajmer blast case - Oct 23, 2010
- Reports suggest Swami Aseemanand's role in 2007 terror attacks - Jan 07, 2011
- Rajasthan cops take Aseemanand to Ajmer for blast probe - Jan 22, 2011
Tags: central jail, chandra shekhar, defence lawyer, gujarat, gupta, harshad, hindu organizations, interrogation, investigation agency, lokesh, madhya pradesh, malegaon, moinuddin chishti, national investigation, oct 11, rajasthan high court, rana, samjhauta express, solanki, valsad