Did RSS turn a blind eye to accused in terror attacks?

New Delhi: Ten people, allegedly associated with the RSS, have been accused of terrorising Samjhauta Express, Ajmer Sharif and Mecca Masjid. Did the sangh turn a blind eye? An NIA investigation in Samjhauta case shows all accused have a sangh link. The mastermind - late Sunil Joshi, a RSS pracharak in Indore and Dewas, Joshi as per the chargesheet hatched the conspiracy to bomb Samjhauta, Ajmer, and Mecca Masjid.

The bomb makers - Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra - both sangh pracharaks in MP and Uttarakhand. The NIA suspects that Dange, a qualified engineer, was the bomb maker for the group and Kalsangra, an electrician, trained others in a camp near Pune in 2004. NIA has announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for the duo.

The evidence against them is Shivam Dhakad, who allegedly trained with Joshi, Dange, Kalsangra and others in a bomb making camp in Bagli, Madhya Praesh in 2006, has now turned witness. Bomb planters - Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chahuhan, Rajender Chaudhary alias Samandar and Amit alias Ashwini Chauhan. Amit is still absconding and the NIA has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh.

The NIA chargesheet names Kamal as the name who accompanied Sunil Joshi to Indore to buy the Samjhauta bomb suitcases. He then travelled to Delhi and placed the suitcase packed with explosive device and fuel oil in the stationary train in Delhi. NIA chargesheet said that he subsequently left for Jaipur and was arrested in 2012. Kamal first confessed to the bombing in a Noida court but later retracted.

Lokesh Sharma, Kamal's accomplice was the nagar karwahak and zila sharirik pramukh of RSS Devghar and is a co-accused in Meca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif blasts too. Rajender Chaudhary, RSS varg vistarak in Indore was arrested in January 2013.

The evidence against the two is the testimony of shopkeepers who sold the suitcase to Joshi and Chauhan. Forensic evidence also proves that the same bomb was used in all three blasts.

Swami Asemanand whose alleged confession gave the NIA a much needed lead in the case, ran vanvasi kalyan sanstha in Gujarat's Dang district. Three others Devender Gupta, Chandrashekhar Lurve and Mukesh Vasani arrested for Ajmer Sharif blasts were working for RSS in Jamtara, Shahjahanpur and Godhra respectively.