Ajmer blast: Key accused names RSS leader Indresh Kumar

Mtoday news

Jaipur, Feb 13:  A key accused in the Ajmer blast case, Bharat Bhai, who was arrested from Gujarat last week, has told Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that RSS leader Indresh Kumar was the mastermind behind the murder of RSS functionary Sunil Joshi.

 

In his confessional statement given to an Ajmer court, he said that RSS pracharak from Madhya Pradesh, Sunil Joshi, rang him up soon after the Ajmer blast in 2007 and said "Hamne patakhe phor diye hain,’’ implying they had organized the blast. He added that Joshi told him that the blast was triggered with the knowledge of senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar.

Bharat Bhai also alleged that Indresh Kumar was as the mastermind behind Joshi’s murder. In his signed statement, now available with NDTV, Bharat Bhai said he came to know of Joshi’s murder on the same night. He also claims that Swami Aseemanand told him that the murder was "the handiwork of Indresh Kumar, who didn’t like Joshi." Joshi was murdered two months after the Ajmer blast.

Aseemanand, 59, a member of right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, is a prime accused in Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast case.  Aseemanand, alias Jatin Chatterjee, had reportedly made a statement before a magistrate on December 18, 2010 in which he said that in June 2006, he and other members of the Sangh Parivar like Riteshwar, Sadhvi Pragya and Sunil Joshi met at Riteshwar’s house in Valsad (Gujarat).

Aseemanand reportedly told everyone present at the meeting that "bomb ka jawab bomb se dena chahiye". He also said that he realised that Joshi and his group were already doing something on the subject.

Indresh Kumar and the RSS have termed allegations against them as a conspiracy to defame the Sangh. But with Bharat Bhai confirming many ’disclosures’ made by Swami Aseemanand to the CBI, Indresh may soon have to face some tough questions from the Rajasthan ATS.