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This story is from March 24, 2017

Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand to walk out of jail after 7 years

In jail since December 2010, right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand is set to walk free with a Hyderabad court on Thursday giving him bail in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case. The NIA will get the copy of bail order today after which it will decide whether to challenge it or not.
Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand to walk out of jail after 7 years
Samjhauta blast accused Aseemanand being produced in Panchkula court. (TOI photo by Pritam Thakur)
Key Highlights
  • Right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand is in jail since December 2010
  • He is set to walk free with a Hyderabad court on Thursday giving him bail in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case
  • The NIA will get the copy of bail order today after which it will decide whether to challenge it or not
NEW DELHI: In jail since December 2010, right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand is set to walk free with a Hyderabad court on Thursday giving him bail in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) expects to receive a copy of Aseemanand's bail order on Friday after which it will decide whether to challenge it or not.
However, if the Samjhauta blast case precedent is anything to go by, the possibility of NIA deciding not to file an appeal against his bail in the Mecca Masjid blast case is real.
Aseemanand's advanced age may also work in his favour.
NIA had not challenged Assemanand's bail in the 2007 Samjhauta train blast, in which he one of the main accused. He was granted bail by Punjab and Haryana High court in August 2014. The trial in Samjhauta is going on though several witnesses have turned hostile over time.
Aseemanand has to now submit two sureties of Rs 50,000 each before he is set free. He has already furnished his bail bond in Samjhauta blast case.
The bail comes as another relief for Aseemanand, a member of Abhinav Bharat, who was acquitted by a Jaipur court in Ajmer Dargah blast earlier this month. The agency, sources said, is also studying the NIA Jaipur court's order acquitting Aseemanand in Ajmer blast and will be taking a legal opinion on it.

Meanwhile, NIA also approached the Jaipur court on Thursday asking how it wants the agency to clarify the clean chit given to Sadhvi Pragya Singh in the Ajmer blast.
The court, while sentencing two persons, Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel on Wednesday to life imprisonment, had asked NIA to clarify the clean chit given to Singh without filing a closure report.
Sadhvi Pragya Thakur was initially a suspect in Ajmer blast case along with senior RSS functionary Indresh Kumar but their name was not included by NIA in its chargesheet stating that it didn't have any prosecutable evidence against them.
"We have sought clarification from the judge regarding the format in which it wants us to file the report seeking closure of case against Pragya Thakur," an NIA officer told TOI on Wednesday.
Sadhvi Pragya's bail in 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case is also likely to be finalised soon as NIA is learnt to have submitted all the documents sought by the court regarding the grounds for giving her a clean chit. NIA had earlier filed a report in the court stating that all charges against her in the Malegaon blast case be dropped for lack of evidence.
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