NIA gives Sadhvi Pragya, Indresh clean chit in Ajmer blast

Jaipur, April 3 (IANS) Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, besides two others, were given a clean chit in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case as the National Investigation Agency on Monday filed a closure report.

The counter-terrorism agency submitted the report in a special NIA court here citing lack of sufficient evidence to build a case against Sadhvi Pragya, Indresh Kumar, Ramesh Venkatrao Mahalkar and Rajendra alias Samandar (who is also an accused in Samjhauta Express train blast case and currently under judicial custody).

Public Prosecutor Ashwini Sharma said the court fixed the next hearing of the case for April 17 to decide whether the closure report should be accepted or not.

Three more suspects -- Sandeep Dange, Suresh Nair and Ram Chandra Kalsangra -- are still on the run in the case while two other accused Jayanti Bhai alias Ustad and Ramesh Gohil alias Ghanshyam have passed away in jail.

A powerful bomb explosion took place at the popular Sufi shrine in Ajmer on October 11, 2007, evening in which three people were killed and over a dozen wounded.

The special NIA court had earlier found Hindu right-wing activists Sunil Joshi and Devendra Gupta guilty of planning the blast, and Bhavesh Bhai Patel of planting the explosive. Both the men were sentenced to life imprisonment on March 22.

Sadhvi Pragya has been accused of being a member of Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu extremist outfit apparently floated by military officer Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

Besides this case, she has been given clean chit in the September 29, 2008, Malegaon bomb blast case that left six persons dead.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)