Seven years after Samjhauta Express blasts, a court Panchkula on Friday framed murder, sedition and other charges against right wing Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and three others paving the way for start of trial.
Additional Sessions Judge Gurbinder Kaur framed charges against Aseemanand and his co-accused -- Kamal Chand, Rajinder Chaudhary and Lokesh Sharma-- who were present in the court, CBI counsel R K Handa said.
The charge sheet in the case was filed in 2011, four years after the incident took place.
Sections 120 (criminal conspiracy) read with 302(murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means), 327 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort property) and 124 A (sedition) of Indian Penal Code are among 18 offences the four accused have been charged with.
They will also face trial under various sections of Railways Act, Explosives Substances Act, Prevention Damage of Public Property Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Handa said.
The case is posted for February 24 and 25 for next hearing.
Two suitcase bombs had exploded in Samjhauta express, a twice-a-week train service between Delhi and Lahore, on February 18, 2007, killing 68 people mostly Pakistanis. On December 30, 2010, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed that they had solid evidence that Aseemanand was the mastermind behind the blasts.
The NIA, which took over the probe in 2010, filed the first chargesheet in June last year.
In the charge sheet filed before the special court in Panchkula, the NIA had accused Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Lokesh Sharma, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji of hatching a criminal conspiracy which resulted in bomb blasts.
The NIA investigation had brought out that Aseemanand was upset with the Jehadi/terrorist attacks on Akshardham temples in Gujarat, Raghunath temple in Jammu and Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi.
The NIA had said Sandeep Dange, Ramji and Lokesh Sharma and others under the leadership of Sunil Joshi were instrumental in not only procuring the raw materials for IED but also getting these fabricated and planted in the target.
"This blast and the consequent fire in the train coaches resulted in the loss of 68 lives and injuries to 12 train passengers including women and children travelling in the train.
"In this terror strike, not only Indian civilians and government officials got killed and injured, but a large number of Pakistani nationals who were passengers also lost their lives," the NIA charge sheet said.
The blasts in the Samjhauta Express had occurred near Deewana railway station in Haryana's Panipat district, some 80 kms from Delhi, leaving 68 people dead, mostly Pakistanis.
Aseemanand and Lokesh Kumar Sharma are accused in several other blast cases across the country, including Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three lives and left 15 others injured.
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