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Journalism of Courage
Two bags containing explosives,arms and ammunition went missing from the house of slain former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi on the night of his murder,and one of the bags was taken away by Ramji Kalsangra,wanted in connection with the Samjhauta Express blasts and other Hindu terror cases. The second bag containing arms,ammunition and rods was thrown into the Narmada river about 100 km away from Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.
These revelations were made by the principal of Saraswati Shishu Mandir at Dewas,Sheetal Gahlot,to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Gahlot,according to officials,had been known to Joshi since 1996-97,and was an active member of the RSS in Dewas. On the day of Joshis murder,December 29,2007,he was informed by one Vinay Dixit,from the RSS,that someone had attacked and shot Sunil Joshi. Dixit asked Gahlot to rush to Joshis house.
When he reached Joshis house,Gahlot said he found that one Ramcharan Patel was present. Patel was arrested this year by the MP police for destruction of evidence in Joshis murder. Gahlots statement,accessed by The Indian Express,says: I later met Vasudev Parmar,a close associate of Joshi and then we all again went to the house of Joshi. A car was parked at the house where one Devender Tiwari was also present. Those at the house brought two bags from Joshis house and dumped it in the car.
Parmar was also arrested by MP police for the murder of Joshi and recently chargesheeted along with Pragya Singh Thakur.
As reported by The Indian Express earlier,Pragya was booked for taking away the briefcase from the house of slain Sunil Joshi on the night of the murder. This revelation was made by Joshis niece Chanchal Joshi who gave a statement to cops as well. NIA officials say that they are still examining the role of Pragya in Joshis murder.
Gahlot told investigators that a day after the murder,a senior RSS leader from Dewas,Pramod Jha,informed him that Ramji Kalsangra would collect Sunil Joshis bag from him. He didnt understand the instruction as the bags were not with him. Thereafter,he received calls from Parmar who asked him to collect the bags from Joshis brother-in-law Chandra Shekhar.
Thereafter I collected the bag from Shekhar and brought it to RSS office in Dewas…I opened one of the bags and saw lots of rods which were connected through thin electric wires wrapped in the plastic sheets with wires tied on them. I got scared and hid both the bags there in the karyalaya (office) itself and went back, states Gahlots statement.
After 2-3 days,I received a phone call from Kalsangra who was present in Dewas to collect the bags from me…I met him and showed him the bags…Ramji opened one bag in which some packets of brown/ whitish colour powder and some rods connected through electric wires were wrapped by a plastic sheet, reads his statement.
The statement further says: He (Ramji) replaced some items from one bag into another. After that he along with his friend left the place and another bag was kept at the office…A few days later,the second bag was opened inside the office in front of one Kailash Chandravat and a pistol and some rods wrapped with wire were seen. Chandravat,who is also in-charge of RSS at Dewas,told me to put this bag in one room safely and after 2/ 3 days directed me to throw the bag into Narmada river. He also provided me a motorcycle for the purpose. Thereafter,I took the bag and threw it into Narmada River near Nemawer.
