Panchkula, Apr 2: In a setback to National Investigation Agency (NIA), three more witnesses on Friday turned hostile during the hearing of the Samjhauta Express blasts case in which Swami Aseemanad is an accused.
Six witnesses were examined by the NIA court on Friday. In June 2011, the NIA had filed a chargesheet against Aseemanand and others, submitting that he was the mastermind of the Samjhauta blasts and instigated others to carry out terrorist strikes. As many as 68 people were killed when bombs were set off in February 2007 in two coaches of Samjhauta Express, running between Delhi and Lahore, at Diwana near Panipat.
The NIA had made Aseemanand the main accused after the death of Sunil Joshi, who was the allegedly the main conspirator of the blasts. Joshi was shot dead in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh in December 2007. According to the NIA, Aseemanand's telephone number was found in Joshi's personal diary under the 'emergency numbers' category.
Among those who turned hostile included Devender Upadhyaya, Uday Khanwalkar and Ashwin Joshi.
In their statements, the trio said they never had any links with RSS or knew none of the accused.
A total of 165 witnesses out of the total 299 have been examined in the case till now. More than 22 witnesses who had earlier identified the accused have now turned hostile.
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Hang all convicted without mercy irrespective of religion.
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