Hindu extremist admits role in 2007 Samjhauta bombings

Disgruntled RSS member confesses to planting bombs.

Kamal Chauhan, a disgruntled Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member, had planted bombs on board Samjhauta Express in 2007 after undergoing training in arms and explosives in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Chauhan was taken to Panchkula court which on Tuesday granted NIA his custody till February 24 for questioning him on his alleged role in the blast in the Delhi-Lahore train that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead.

Investigations reveal that Chauhan along with Ramchandra Kalasangra, alias Ramji, and Lokesh Sharma, also charged in the case, planted the explosives in the train at Old Delhi, from where the train originates, NIA’s Special Prosecutor R K Handa said outside the court after the in-camera proceedings in the case.

Chauhan, believed to be a close aide of Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, key accused in the Samjhauta case, was arrested in Noida on Delhi’s outskirts on Sunday and was brought to Panchkula in Haryana on Tuesday. The NIA had sought his remand for a fortnight.

“We have to unearth his complete involvement and association. During investigations, it has come to light that Chauhan underwent extensive training in handling of weapons and explosives in Faridabad (Haryana) and Bagli in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh),” Handa said.

Sources claimed that during interrogation, Chauhan had spoken about his association with the RSS and his falling out as he did not subscribe to the ‘new ideologies’.

Meanwhile, Chauhan’s counsel Anil Soni and Shailender Babbar alleged that his arrest was ‘politically motivated’ and aimed at influencing polls in Uttar Pradesh while his family claimed that he is a farmer by profession and in “no way involved in the crime”.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2012.