The Hindu, 13 July 2010
by Neena Vyas
Fresh allegations of terror links of a serious nature have surfaced against a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, Indresh Kumar, on a day when RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav rubbished all such reports as baseless.
The Headlines Today channel on Thursday evening telecast tapes of secret meetings discussing the need to carry out terrorist attacks against meetings of Muslims. In a press release issued by the channel, it was claimed the video and audio tapes telecast by it were extracted by the investigation agencies from the laptop of Dayanand Pandey, who is an accused in the Malegaon blast case, along with Pragnya Thakur. The channel claimed the tapes had been tested by forensic laboratories and would be part of the evidence gathered by the agencies.
Shocking revelation
One shocking revelation – on an audio tape – was the claim by a medical doctor in Delhi — and allegedly part of the saffron terror ring — that he had, in fact, gone to the Jamia Millia Islamia in 2007 with the intent to attack Vice-President Hamid Ansari, attending a function there, but could not find the opportunity to carry it out.
The press release claimed the channel had access to witness statements (in the Ajmer and Malegaon blast cases) that indict Mr. Indresh Kumar, member of the RSS central working committee, its highest decision-making forum. These witness statements claim that Mr. Indresh Kumar was in the know of various terror plans.
Soon after the telecast, Mr. Ram Madhav said there was “nothing new in the television channel's report. All these things have been heard and said ever since the Malegoan case began to be investigated. Mr. Indresh Kumar is nowhere linked in any terror incident.”
He also referred to a recent statement by the CBI Director that no RSS functionary had been interrogated by the agency.
After the arrest of RSS pracharak Devendra Gupta and saffron activist Lokesh Sharma in connection with the Ajmer Sharief blast, the organisation had distanced itself from them and said it was ready to cooperate with the police. However, if Mr. Indresh Kumar were to be connected to any terror plot, it would be difficult for the RSS to escape taint. He was one of the leaders – behind the scenes – of the Amarnath land issue agitation, some BJP leaders have confirmed.
Several sympathisers and members of the larger sangh parivar have been arrested. But there are others who are allegedly linked but have not yet been taken into custody by the investigating agencies.
CPI(M) charge
Recently, the CPI(M) charged in a statement that the government was deliberately going slow on these investigations and demanded the facts of the case from it.
It wanted the government to set up a fast track court for the so-called ‘Hindu' terror link.
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