Aam Aadmy Party on Saturday slammed the central government for going soft against Malegaon accused belonging to Hindutva organisations.
In a hurriedly called press conference, AAP leaders condemned the NIA and the central government for insulting a national martyr, the former ATS chief, Hemant Karkare.
Senior AAP leader Ashish Khetan said, “There has been a conspiracy to weaken the case against those accused belonging to Hindutva organisations and are languishing in jails ever since the Narendra Modi government was formed. The country is ashamed by how insults have been meted out to a country’s martyr, Hemant Karkare, who sacrificed his life while fighting the terrorists during 26/11 attacks.
“Today by questioning his integrity, both the NIA and the Modi government have insulted the martyrdom of our martyrs. The NIA, the BJP and Modi government must apologise to the whole country.”
Khetan also alleged that the NIA under Modi government had protected senior RSS functionaries despite CBI’s recommendations for actions against them in the past.
He said, “I’m saying with a lot of responsibility that when the files related to Mecca Masjid blasts were being moved from the CBI to the NIA, the then CBI was about to arrest the senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar. The then joint director of the SBI, NR Wasan had produced a three-page note before the Director, CBI. His statement said, ‘these are evidence which can be used against Indresh Kumar. We must examine to elicit more information.’ These are the words of Wasan, who a joint director of the CBI.”
According to Khetan, Wasan was reported to have said in his note, “Further, we may inform the MHA about the activities of the RSS as RSS cadres are involved along with top leaders in terrorist activity to initiate appropriate action as per law.”
Khetan urged the journalists to ask both the CBI Director and the NIA DG to explain whether the letter written by Wasan existed or not.
Khetan, a former investigative journalist, also revealed how the NIA chief Sharad Kumar, had personally intervened to weaken the case against Swami Aseemanand, a key accused in 2007 Samjhauta Express train blasts.
He said, “Swami Aseemanand, a senior RSS leader and the prime accused in Samjhauta Express blasts case in Panchkula court. When Aseemanand moved his bail application and it came to the NIA, amendments were then made to his application. The amendments were made by the NIA DIG, Sharad Kumar. He wrote, ‘Swami Aseemanand is a social activist and he’s an old man. and it’s for the court to pass an appropriate order.’ So, the NIA DG, Sharad Kumar himself intervened to weaken the bail application. Go and ask him if this is true or not.”
Sharad Kumar was to retire last year but the central government had extended his tenure by one year prompting many to question if this was done to facilitate the weakening of cases against terror accused against those, associated with right-wing Hindutva organisations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqsFGtqCvMM