Written by: Bhartesh Singh Thakur
3 min readPanchkulaAug 18, 2011 12:06 AM IST
First published on: Aug 18, 2011 at 12:06 AM IST
Aseemanand on Wednesday strongly opposed the National Investigation Agencys application to unseal the seized material found at Samjhauta blasts site for comparison with that recovered from blasts sites at Ajmer,Modasa,Malegaon and Hyderabad. Special Judge NIA Subhas Mehla allowed the application but with conditions. As per the order,Assemanands lawyer will be allowed to be present during the visit of forensic experts from Central Forensic Science Laboratory,Hyderabad,for examination of seized material,from 8 am to 5 pm on August 21 and August 22,at NIA camp office in Panchkula.
The material recovered during the investigations in Samjhauta blasts case was submitted with chargesheet on June 20 and is presently kept in malkhana of the NIA camp office.
Aseemanand,through his lawyers,submitted that the opinion of experts from Forensic Science Laboratory,Madhuban,had already been given at an initial stage of investigation in 2007,but the agency was trying to re-investigate the case after four years. He said there was no need for unsealing the seized material as the comparisons could be made by forensic reports of the investigation agencies which were earlier entrusted with the job of probe into these blasts.
The NIA maintained that to unearth larger conspiracy of blast cases,the comparison of improvised explosive devices IED and other material object of Samjhauta case with the IEDs and other exhibits of other cases is required to be done by a team of experts from CFSL,Hyderabad.
Aseemanand said as he had retracted from his confessional statement,which was put in his mouth by the prosecution agency under compelling circumstances,the unsealing of seized material was an attempt to further implicate him and other accused in cases,which had been taken over by the NIA.
The NIA wants to examine 33 items,which include match box containing plastic envelop having yellow coloured mixture taken out from the pipe bomb burnt metal strips of suitcase,burnt debris recovered from burnt compartments of Samjhauta,one metallic luggage carrier exploded with damage in central region recovered from one of the compartments,9 mm pistol,a burnt walky talky set,two empty cartridges and one bullet,Indian and Pakistani currency notes and plastic bottles containing chemicals. There is also a broken dark grey coloured suitcase containing battery,electric circuit,clock and dried metal pieces.
The next date for the case is September 13 and supplementary chargesheet is expected to be filed.
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