Explain how Aseemanand’s confession leaked: Court to CBI

The court asked the probe agency to file its response on February 15.

The court’s order came during the hearing of an application filed by RSS functionary Devendra Gupta seeking registration of an FIR against CBI and ‘Tehelka’ magazine under various penal provisions for the “deliberate” leakage of Aseemanand’s confessional statement.

The confession was recorded in Delhi by a Metropolitan Magistrate on December 18 last year in an in-camera proceeding.

The court was to pronounce its order on the application by the RSS functionary seeking registration of the FIR against CBI’s Additional Superintendent of Police,T R Balaji and the owner,publisher and editor of Tehelka magazine.

“I am of the view that it is most appropriate that a report be called from CBI as to how the said confessional statement has been leaked to the media. Therefore,I defer the order on the (Gupta’s) application,” the ACMM said.

The application filed by Gupta through his counsel Anupam S Sharma on January 31 sought registration of FIR saying the leakage was “deliberate,intentional and malicious with the sinister motive to insult and interrupt the judicial proceedings”.

Gupta,against whom a chargesheet has been filed by Rajasthan’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS),is now lodged in the Central Jail,Ajmer

“The media coverage indicates a well-defined leakage that is authored with a design to insult the judicial process and investigation. The leakage of the court record has opened an additional fora of media trial to prejudice the minds of the court in violation of the rights of the accused in custody,” Gupta had submitted in his application.

Gupta had said Aseemanand’s confessional statement was leaked by the CBI to Tehelka magazine in violation of law.

The Rajasthan ATS had arrested Gupta from Ajmer and Chandrashekhar and Lokesh from Madhya Pradesh last year. It later arrested two more suspects — Harshad Bhai Solanki,who was also involved in Best Bakery case of Vadodara and absconding since 2004,and Mukesh Vasani — from Gujarat.

The blast in the premises of the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti in 2007 had left three persons dead and 15 others injured.

Aseemanand (59),prime accused in Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast case,in his recent confessional statement had said he and several other Sangh activists had a direct role in Malegaon,Samjhauta Express,Ajmer and Mecca blasts.

The blast in the premises of the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti in 2007 had left three persons dead and 15 others injured.

Aseemanand (59),prime accused in Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast case,in his recent confessional statement had said he and several other Sangh activists had a direct role in Malegaon,Samjhauta Express,Ajmer and Mecca blasts.