One of the men accused in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah bomb blast case has alleged that several union ministers and senior Congress leaders, including Digvijay Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, besides National Investigation Agency officers, had pressured him to implicate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and senior RSS functionary Indresh Kumar in the attack.
In his application to the CBI court, Bhavesh Patel, who was arrested in March, has alleged that Acharya Pramod Krishnan of Moradabad had facilitated his meetings with Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, his deputy R P N Singh and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, all of who wanted him to implicate the RSS leaders.
Patel?s counsel Bhupendra Singh Chouhan said Patel would make the same statement in court Thursday. According to the NIA chargesheet, Patel is alleged to have provided logistical support to a saffron terror module for the attack and carried the bomb inside the Dargah.
Digvijay Singh and R P N Singh rubbished the allegations and said they had never met or even heard of Patel. Shinde and Jaiswal could not be reached for comment.
Patel has said he was introduced to Digvijay Singh by Krishnan in his ashram in November 2012. ?I told him about my case. ?Digvijay Singhji ne kaha tum nishchint raho. Samay aane par jaisa hum kahen, waisa karna? (Digvijay Singh told me not to worry and in time, do as he says).?
Patel alleged Krishnan later arranged meetings with R P N Singh and Jaiswal, who told him Digvijay Singh had apprised them about his case and that he would be absolved if he did their bidding.
The Ajmer blast accused also claimed Krishnan took him to ?some place? in Delhi where Shinde was present.
?Sushil Kumar Shinde told me ?when you are brought to the court, you have to name Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar and you have to say that you engineered the blast in Ajmer Dargah as per their directions?,? Patel alleged.
He, however, claimed he did not eventually name Indresh or Bhagwat ?as my conscience did not allow me.?
Krishnan denied Patel?s allegations. ?It is an utter lie. I never introduced him to anybody or took him anywhere. Some lawyers from Delhi informed me about his arrest in the Ajmer blast case. Until then, I was not aware about his involvement. His brother had approached me for help after his arrest but I had refused,? he said.
NIA (ADG) N R Wasan also denied Patel?s allegations, and said he is an accused who has been in custody.
NIA sources questioned the timing of Patel?s petition and said Hindu extremists accused in terror cases had made similar allegations against NIA officials.
