Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand denies meeting bomber Kamal Chauhan

Panchkula (Haryana), Feb.22 (ANI): Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand on Wednesday denied in court that he had ever met with Kamal Chauhan, who has accepted that he bombed the train that left 68 dead in February 2007.

He also said that National Investigative Agency ( NIA) was the alleged conspirator in the blast.

Swami Aseemanand's statement in court came a day after former RSS worker Kamal Chauhan, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Noida on February 12, confessed that he had planted a bomb on the Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express that killed 68 people in February 2007.

"I carried out the blasts. I did it of my own accord," he said while leaving a special court after the hearing of his remand plea.

His public confession could strengthen the NIA's case that Hindu extremist groups had conspired and executed the blasts on the Samjhauta Express that killed mostly Pakistani civilians.

One of the main accused in the case, Swami Aseemanand, alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, had confessed to his role in the attack after his arrest by the CBI in November 2010, but later retracted his statement, saying it was made under duress.

According to the NIA, the conspiracy involved six persons: Lokesh Sharma who planted the bombs in the train along with Chauhan; mastermind Sunil Joshi, who was murdered in December 2007; Aseemanand, the financier and ideologue; and Sandeep Dange, a close associate of Joshi, who along with Ramchandra Kalsangre had procured the raw material and made the bombs. Dange and Kalsangre are still at large. (ANI)