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November 01, 2010

How the RSS activists assembled the bombs used in Ajmer blasts

Mail Today, 1 November 2010


Ajmer bomb made at fugitive’s house

By Dalip Singh in New Delhi

THE FOUR mobile phone- triggered pipe bombs used in Ajmer Sharif and Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blasts were assembled at fugitive accused Ramji Kalsangra’s house in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

The chargesheet filed by Rajasthan’s anti- terrorism squad ( ATS) in a Jaipur court on Friday says the four bombs were assembled by Kalsangra, another absconding accused Sandeep Dange and Sunil Joshi, the suspected mastermind of the blasts who was killed.

All the three men have served the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh ( RSS) in various capacities.

Two bombs each were used in the blasts at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007, and in Ajmer on October 11 the same year.

Investigations have revealed that the task of gathering information to make the bombs was assigned to Kalsangra and Dange, since they had technical knowledge given their academic qualification.

While Dange graduated in engineering from a government college in Indore, Kalsangra was an electrician by profession. He did his diploma from a Mumbai ITI. Sometime in 2004- 2005, the duo had got training in making bombs from members of the saffron terror module in Pune.

RSS pracharak Devender Gupta, who is behind bars for his role in both the blasts, is alleged to have procured detonators for the pipe- bombs and kept them initially at his Mihijam house in Dumka district of Jharkhand.

On forged identities, he along with Joshi procured 11 SIMs and eight mobile phones for the blasts.

The forensic examination of the unexploded improvised explosive device ( IEDs) used at the two places revealed that sulphur, chlorate, nitrate, potassium and tri- nitro toluene were mixed and stuffed in black- coloured cylindrical pipes of two- inch diameter.

These were wired to circuit boards and attached to detonators that were triggered through cell- phones that had ‘ vande mataram ’ as screen savers.

Of the four IEDs planted, one bomb each failed to go off at both the places, giving investigators the vital lead to unravel the entire terror plot.

The chemicals were wrapped in a newspaper and put in pipes. Both had identical printed circuit board, which was attached to batteries packed in black plastic coverings, the ATS chargesheet says.

The CBI probe has also confirmed the ATS findings.

Sources said the blast timings and numbering on the bombs used at the two sites were scribbled in Hindi. The CBI investigators traced the writing to Kalsangra. This was confirmed when CBI sleuths interrogated his brother, who is behind the bars for his alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts.

However, the investigators are still to zero in on the sources of funding for the blasts. The ATS chargesheet also does not throw any light on this.