Mail Today, 8 January 2011
SWAMI LINKS RSS TO SAFFRON TERROR PLOT
By Aman Sharma in New Delhi
Asimanand confession before magistrate claims Sangh hand in Hyderabad, Ajmer, Malegaon &Samjhauta blasts
In a damning confession before a magistrate, Mecca Masjid terror blast accused Swami Asimanand has nailed the lies of top RSS leader Indresh Kumar and exposed his links with various terror plots across the country.
Indresh, who was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation on December 23 for his alleged role in those plots, had said that he was being framed in a government conspiracy to pin the blame of the terrorist blasts in Ajmer, Hyderabad, Malegaon, and on the Samjhauta Express on the RSS. Asimanand’s confession puts paid to that allegation. Asimanand confessed before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code — thus making it legally admissible as evidence with the CBI and the National Investigating Agency (NIA) — that Indresh was the brain behind the Hindutva terror module that executed terrorist blasts in Ajmer, Hyderabad, on the Samjhauta Express and twice in Malegaon. The 26- page confession, a story on which was published first in the news magazine Tehelka, was made in Hindi before metropolitan magistrate Deepak Dabas at Tis Hazari court in the Capital on December 18.
The preacher told the magistrate that Indresh had told him in 2005 that the RSS would support pracharak Sunil Joshi “in every way” to execute bomb attacks in the country and that Indresh had given Joshi `50,000 for this. Asimanand said in the confession that after the terrorist blasts on the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif in 2007, he had warned Joshi days before his murder in December 2007 that his (Joshi’s) life “is in danger” from Indresh.
He also confessed that he had financed Joshi for the bomb blasts and he had himself propounded a “bomb for a bomb” principle after being agitated over the 2006 blasts at the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi. The CBI, which got a copy of Asimanand’s confession from the court on December 20, sent Indresh a summons on December 21 and questioned him two days later.
“I told the CBI that if you have been asked by your political masters to fix me, then go ahead and do it with your false and bogus stories,” Indresh told MAIL TODAY.
Asimanand’s confession states: “Indresh Kumar, who was a RSS Central Committee member, met me in 2005 in Shabari Dham. Top RSS leaders were present along with him and they had come to Shabari Dham straight from a RSS meeting in Surat. Near Pampa Sarovar in a tent, Indresh told me that it was not my job to advocate the bomb-for-a-bomb idea.”
The document adds: “He (Indresh) said RSS wanted me to do work with the tribals… Indresh said my thoughts and the RSS mindset were the same. He said Joshi had been given the job (to carry out bomb blasts) and (Indresh) Kumar said that whatever help Joshi needs, would be given.”
The confession paints a frightening picture of how a Hindutva terror module comprising Asimanand, Joshi and the still-absconding Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangre got together in 2006 to “avenge” the bomb attacks on Hindu temples.
“After the blasts in Varanasi, in March 2006, Pragya Singh Thakur (in jail for the 2008 Malegaon blasts), Sunil Joshi and one Bharatbhai had come to my Shabari Dham Ashram in Dangs district, Gujarat. We all were disturbed by the Varanasi blasts and decided that we should reply. We decided that Joshi and Bharatbhai will go to Jharkhand to procure SIM cards and a pistol, and I gave Joshi `25,000,” Asimanand’s confession says.
In May 2006, the group had another meeting in Bharatbhai’s Valsad (in Gujarat) house where the four were also joined by Sandeep Dange, Ramji Kalsangre, Lokesh Sharma and Amit. At this meeting, as per Asimanand’s confession, he laid the roadmap for future terror attacks and suggested Hyderabad, Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif and the Aligarh Muslim University as the targets, while Sunil Joshi suggested that the Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express should also be on the hit list.
“I suggested that the first bomb should be placed in Malegaon as it is closest to our location and also has 80 per cent Muslim population.
I also said that since at time of Independence the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to go with Pakistan, Hyderabad should be taught a lesson and hence a bomb should be placed there.
“Then I said that Ajmer Sharif is one place where Hindus go in big numbers… so a bomb should be placed there too, so that Hindus are scared of going there. I also said that a bomb should also be placed in AMU because many Muslim youths study there. My suggestions were accepted by everyone.” So was Joshi’s.
Asimanand goes on to say that after the 2006 Malegaon blasts that left 31 people dead, Joshi told him that “his men” had executed the blast. “I asked Joshi who had planted the Malegaon bombs but he refused to tell me,” Asimanand says in the confession.
“I told Joshi that he was making empty claims but he made me understand that he was behind the blasts. Joshi later took `40,000 from me at Bharatbhai’s house to carry out the Hyderabad blast. After a couple of months, Joshi called me to say that good news would come in one or two days. Three to four days later, the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad was hit. Sunil Joshi came after seven to eight days to say that his boys had set off the blast.”
After the Ajmer Sharif blasts in 2007, Joshi came to visit him with two men, Raj and Mehul, whom he said were accused in Gujarat’s Best Bakery incident.
“Joshi claimed to me that he was present at Ajmer Sharif when the blasts happened and that two Muslim boys were also in his group to execute those blasts. Joshi told me that these Muslim boys were given to him by Indresh Kumar. I told Joshi that if Indresh had given him Muslim boys then his name could also emerge when you are caught. I told Joshi that his life is in danger from Indresh and told him that he should stay with me at Shabari Dham.”
As it happened, Joshi chose to return to Dangs and within days, Asimanand says he got the news that Joshi had been killed. “When Joshi was alive, he used to tell me before every bomb blast or soon after it that our men had done the blasts. After he was killed, I learnt that the 2008 Malegaon blasts were also our handiwork,” Asimanand says.
Excerpts from Swami Asimanand’s confession to a magistrate about Hindutva terror and the key players
1 In 2006, a bomb blast took place in the Sankatmochan tem-ple in Kashi. The inci-dent shook us and in March that year we decided to give a befitting reply. The plan was that Sunil (Joshi) and Bharatbhai would go to Jharkhand to purchase SIM cards (to detonate the explosives) and weapons such as pistols. I handed over `25,000 to Sunil to buythese articles
2 Later, Sunil, Bharatbhai, Pragya and I met again. Duringthis huddle, I suggested thatsince 80% of Malegaon’s (in Maharashtra) population comprises Muslims, we should place the first bomb there. Then I said that as the Nizam of Hyderabad had decided to go with Pakistan when India became independent, we must place a bomb there, too. I also said the Ajmer dargahis frequented by Hindus, so we must plant a bomb at that site todeter them from coming there
3 Sunil took `40,000 from me at Bharatbhai’s house to carry out the Hyderabad blast. Threefour days later, I read the news of the blast at Hyderabad’s MeccaMasjid in a newspaper. When Sunil came toShabridham after a few days, he told me that our men had a role in this strike too
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Mail Today, 8 January 2011
Swami bares RSS role in terror acts
Continued from Page 1
the Samjhauta Express on the RSS. Asimanand’s confession puts paid to that allegation. Asimanand confessed before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code — thus making it legally admissible as evidence with the CBI and the National Investigating Agency (NIA) — that Indresh was the brain behind the Hindutva terror module that executed terrorist blasts in Ajmer, Hyderabad, on the Samjhauta Express and twice in Malegaon. The 26- page confession, a story on which was published first in the news magazine Tehelka, was made in Hindi before metropolitan magistrate Deepak Dabas at Tis Hazari court in the Capital on December 18.
The preacher told the magistrate that Indresh had told him in 2005 that the RSS would support pracharak Sunil Joshi “in every way” to execute bomb attacks in the country and that Indresh had given Joshi `50,000 for this. Asimanand said in the confession that after the terrorist blasts on the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif in 2007, he had warned Joshi days before his murder in December 2007 that his (Joshi’s) life “is in danger” from Indresh.
He also confessed that he had financed Joshi for the bomb blasts and he had himself propounded a “bomb for a bomb” principle after being agitated over the 2006 blasts at the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi. The CBI, which got a copy of Asimanand’s confession from the court on December 20, sent Indresh a summons on December 21 and questioned him two days later.
“I told the CBI that if you have been asked by your political masters to fix me, then go ahead and do it with your false and bogus stories,” Indresh told MAIL TODAY.
Asimanand’s confession states: “Indresh Kumar, who was a RSS Central Committee member, met me in 2005 in Shabari Dham. Top RSS leaders were present along with him and they had come to Shabari Dham straight from a RSS meeting in Surat. Near Pampa Sarovar in a tent, Indresh told me that it was not my job to advocate the bomb-for-a-bomb idea.”
The document adds: “He (Indresh) said RSS wanted me to do work with the tribals… Indresh said my thoughts and the RSS mindset were the same. He said Joshi had been given the job (to carry out bomb blasts) and (Indresh) Kumar said that whatever help Joshi needs, would be given.”
The confession paints a frightening picture of how a Hindutva terror module comprising Asimanand, Joshi and the still-absconding Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangre got together in 2006 to “avenge” the bomb attacks on Hindu temples.
“After the blasts in Varanasi, in March 2006, Pragya Singh Thakur (in jail for the 2008 Malegaon blasts), Sunil Joshi and one Bharatbhai had come to my Shabari Dham Ashram in Dangs district, Gujarat. We all were disturbed by the Varanasi blasts and decided that we should reply. We decided that Joshi and Bharatbhai will go to Jharkhand to procure SIM cards and a pistol, and I gave Joshi `25,000,” Asimanand’s confession says.
In May 2006, the group had another meeting in Bharatbhai’s Valsad (in Gujarat) house where the four were also joined by Sandeep Dange, Ramji Kalsangre, Lokesh Sharma and Amit. At this meeting, as per Asimanand’s confession, he laid the roadmap for future terror attacks and suggested Hyderabad, Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif and the Aligarh Muslim University as the targets, while Sunil Joshi suggested that the Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express should also be on the hit list.
“I suggested that the first bomb should be placed in Malegaon as it is closest to our location and also has 80 per cent Muslim population.
I also said that since at time of Independence the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to go with Pakistan, Hyderabad should be taught a lesson and hence a bomb should be placed there.
“Then I said that Ajmer Sharif is one place where Hindus go in big numbers… so a bomb should be placed there too, so that Hindus are scared of going there. I also said that a bomb should also be placed in AMU because many Muslim youths study there. My suggestions were accepted by everyone.” So was Joshi’s.
Asimanand goes on to say that after the 2006 Malegaon blasts that left 31 people dead, Joshi told him that “his men” had executed the blast. “I asked Joshi who had planted the Malegaon bombs but he refused to tell me,” Asimanand says in the confession.
“I told Joshi that he was making empty claims but he made me understand that he was behind the blasts. Joshi later took `40,000 from me at Bharatbhai’s house to carry out the Hyderabad blast. After a couple of months, Joshi called me to say that good news would come in one or two days. Three to four days later, the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad was hit. Sunil Joshi came after seven to eight days to say that his boys had set off the blast.”
After the Ajmer Sharif blasts in 2007, Joshi came to visit him with two men, Raj and Mehul, whom he said were accused in Gujarat’s Best Bakery incident.
“Joshi claimed to me that he was present at Ajmer Sharif when the blasts happened and that two Muslim boys were also in his group to execute those blasts. Joshi told me that these Muslim boys were given to him by Indresh Kumar. I told Joshi that if Indresh had given him Muslim boys then his name could also emerge when you are caught. I told Joshi that his life is in danger from Indresh and told him that he should stay with me at Shabari Dham.”
As it happened, Joshi chose to return to Dangs and within days, Asimanand says he got the news that Joshi had been killed. “When Joshi was alive, he used to tell me before every bomb blast or soon after it that our men had done the blasts. After he was killed, I learnt that the 2008 Malegaon blasts were also our handiwork,” Asimanand says.
Excerpts from Swami Asimanand’s confession to a magistrate about Hindutva terror and the key players
1 In 2006, a bomb blast took place in theSankatmochan tem-ple in Kashi. The inci-dent shook us and inMarch that year we decided to give a befitting reply. The plan was thatSunil (Joshi) and Bharatbhai would go to Jharkhand to purchase SIM cards (todetonate the explosives) and weapons such as pistols. I handed over `25,000 to Sunil to buythese articles
2 Later, Sunil, Bharatbhai, Pragya and I met again. Duringthis huddle, I suggested thatsince 80% of Malegaon’s (in Maharashtra) population comprises Muslims, we should place the first bomb there. Then I said that as the Nizam of Hyderabad had decided to go with Pakistan when India became independent, we must place a bomb there, too. I also said the Ajmer dargahis frequented by Hindus, so we must plant a bomb at that site todeter them from coming there
3 Sunil took `40,000 from me atBharatbhai’s house to carry out the Hyderabad blast. Threefour days later, I read the news of the blast at Hyderabad’s MeccaMasjid in a newspaper. When Sunil came toShabridham after a few days, he told me that ourmen had a role in thisstrike too
COLLUDERS NAMED IN THE CONFESSION
SWAMI ASIMANAND
WHO HE IS: Kolkata native, aka Jatin Chatterjee, has an MSc in Physics, came to Dangs in Gujarat to re-convert people from Christianity, respected RSS leader said to be close to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi
STATUS: He was arrested recently by the CBI in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast. He was produced before Ajmer’s chief judicial magistrate on January 4.
WHAT HE CONFESSED: I told the others (at a meeting in Valsad in June 2006, which was attended by Bharatbhai Pragya Singh and Sunil Joshi) that a bomb blast must be countered by a similar act. It’s not right for us Hindus to stay silent… I was told to provide financial assistance and arrange for accommodation (to carry out the terror acts)
SUNIL JOSHI
WHO HE WAS: RSS pracharak, friend of Malegaon accused Pragya Thakur Singh, close to Swami Aseemanand who had warned him of a threat to life
STATUS: Shot dead in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, in December 2007
WHAT ASIMANAND SAID: Sunil took the responsibility of conducting recces of all the four sites (Malegaon, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, Ajmer dargah and Aligarh Muslim University). He said that since the Samjhauta Express train to Pakistan generally ferried Pakistani passengers, we should carry out an explosion on it as well
RAMCHANDRA KALSANGRA & SANDEEP DANGE
WHO THEY ARE: Kalsangra aka Ramji or Vishnu Patel, is an electrician from a Mumbai ITI, thought to be 35, was taught bomb-making by members of the saffron terror module in Pune between 2004 and 2005, assembled the Ajmer bombs at his house in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district. Dange, aka Parmanand, is an engineer from a government college in Indore
STATUS: Both are currently absconding. The CBI has declared a `10-lakh reward on each
WHAT ASIMANAND SAID: In June 2006, Bharatbhai (a co-plotter who has also deposed before a magistrate) hosted a meeting attended by Pragya Singh, Sunil Joshi, myself and four other boys at his house in Valsad (Gujarat). Later, I came to know that two of the four boys were Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra. Sandeep was instructed to assemble bombs and store them. The CBI showed me their photos
INDRESH KUMAR
WHO HE IS: An RSS national executive member, was the strategist behind the successful communalisation of the Amarnath land grant agitation in 2008, regarded as one of the Sangh’s chief strategists, apparently close to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, force behind Muslim Ekta Manch
STATUS: Under the scanner WHAT ASIMANAND SAID: When I asked Sunil Joshi how he managed to rope in Muslim youths (to carry out the Ajmer blast), he said Indresh had made that arrangement. I then told Sunil that Indresh jias well as the Muslim boys could be a threat to his life. Later, I got to know that Sunil had been murdered
LT COL SHRIKANT PRASAD PUROHIT
WHO HE IS: A former military intelligence officer, said to be the brain behind the Malegaon operation, apparently procured weapons and RDX from an army depot, was taped declaring he didn’t believe in the Constitution
STATUS: Arrested by the Mumbai ATS in Novem November 2008 over his involvement in terrorist attacks across western India
WHAT ASIMANAND SAID: When I asked Lt Col Purohit who had murdered Sunil Joshi, he said the latter had himself killed someone and it appeared to be an act of revenge… Purohit once told me that Indreshji was an ISI agent and that he was in possession of documents to prove this. But he never showed me the papers
PRAGYA THAKUR SINGH
WHO SHE IS: A sadhvi member of Abhinav Bharat and one of the prime accused in the Malegaon blasts case, allegedly formed a group to take revenge for the Mumbai train bomb explosion, claimed to be a leader of the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ movement, her motorcycle was used in the Malegaon terror act
STATUS: Arrested by Maharashtra ATS, lodged in Nashik Jail. She is currently awaiting trial
WHAT ASIMANAND SAID: A couple of days later, I went to Bharatbhai’s house where Sunil Joshi and Pragya Thakur Singh were present. I told Sunil that the news of the Samjhauta Express blast had already been published and he had not even ventured out of town. Then he told me that the act had been carried out by our men
