Samjhauta blasts case: Another witness turns hostile, 17 so far

The blasts near Dewana railway station in Panipat on the intervening night of February 18 and 19, 2007, killed 68 people, mostly from Pakistan. The train was on its way to Lahore.

An Indore-based revenue official, Mohammed Irshad, was supposed to depose before the trial court about the confessional statement earlier given to the NIA by alleged bomb planter Rajinder Chaudhary in his presence.

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In the confessional statement, Chaudhary admitted to have participated in the training for manufacturing bombs at Bagli village in Indore, said NIA’s counsel Rajan Malhotra.

Malhotra said while Irshad was declared hostile by the court, “later he supported the version of NIA” during cross-examination. The NIA counsel said as another witness, Inder Singh Malvia, was to depose before the court on Friday about the same confessional statement, he was given up by the agency.

The other two witness were school principal from Indore Uday Bhan, who had handed over Chaudhary’s certificate to the NIA, and patwari G N Mandloi, who deposed about a land purchase in 2009 by Chaudhary’s father.

The case would now come up for hearing on October 17 when four more witnesses would be examined by the court.