Swami Aseemanand has denied what is being seen as his confession in the involvement of the terror attacks.
He told the Ajmer Chief Judicial Magistrate that his confession to the CBI was under coercion from investigation agencies and so was his letter allegedly suggesting he wanted to turn approver.
Aseemanand told the court he has no desire to turn approver in the cases including the Samjhauta Express, Ajmer, Malegaon and Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. Aseemanand and three other accused in the Ajmer blast probe, including Harshad Solanki, Bharat Rateshwar and Mukesh Vasani, were produced in the Ajmer court Wednesday where Aseemanand handed his application. A senior advocate present during the proceedings said Aseemanand alleged he was physically and mentally tortured during interrogations.
The Rajasthan ATS declined to comment on swami application. However an official privy to investigation said that the NIA, CBI and ATS has done their work properly and they would probe his involvement in the court.
Senior advocates said that Aseemanand told the court that the CBI and NIA put pressure on him — including threatening his family — to confess to his role in the Samjhauta blasts. And threatened to “fix” him in false cases and put his “family in jail.”
It was Aseemanand’s confession to the CBI that laid bare the inner workings of the people and groups responsible for a series of blasts including Malegaon, Ajmer, the Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad.
Following his retraction, a Tis Hazari court has reserved its order on the alleged leak of his confession. Appearing for petitioner Devendra Gupta, Anupam Sharma told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Bansal that Aseemanand had claimed that the Investigative Officer was present outside the courtroom of Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Dabbas in Delhi when he was recording his statement. Bansal had asked the CBI to file a report explaining under what circumstances the confession was leaked to the press. Sharma said: “Aseemanand’s stand proved that the confession was recorded under torture… it also showed it was leaked by no one else but CBI officials.”