Confusion over confessions

Confusion over confessions
January 14, 2011

Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi

Probe into terror attacks is mired in vagueness as various persons have admitted to same crime

With investigation so far linking the banned SIMI, Swami Aseemanand and associates, and David Headley with Samjhauta Express and some other blasts, the probe into the case is mired in a maze of confusion.

Top SIMI commanders Safdar Nagori, Kamruddin Nagori and Aamil Parvez had, in their narco test, ruled out involvement of Lt Col Srikant Purohit or Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon blasts and owned up to the Samjhauta Express explosion.

However, Aseemanand has reportedly claimed that he and his associates — Riteshwar, Sadhvi Pragya and Sunil Joshi — met at Riteshwar’s house in Valsad in June 2006 to target Muslim localities with a view to avenge spiralling terror strikes by jihadi groups in the country.

“I told everybody that bomb ka jawab bomb se dena chahiye, (I told everyone we should answer bombs with bombs). At that meeting, it was also decided to target Samjhauta Express,” if Aseemanand’s confessions are to be believed.

Further muddying the picture is well-known disclosure by Faiza Outalha, former wife of David Coleman Headley, about his role in Samjhauta bombing.

Even before the investigators came to know about Headley’s link and zeroed in on the Hindu outfits, top SIMI leaders had admitted the involvement of SIMI and jihadi elements in the Samjhauta train carnage and Malegaon blasts of 2006. Apart from the Samjhauta Express and Malegaon blasts, Nagori and his associates have also confessed to SIMI’s role and involvement of Muslims in terror attacks in Mumbai, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Ajmer and the shootout at the American consulate in Kolkata.

Nagori told a team of doctors of FSL, Bangalore, “In the Samjhauta Express blasts, some persons from Pakistan had come and they had purchased the suitcase cover at Kataria Market, Indore. One person (from SIMI) Tanzeem had helped them to get the suitcase cover stitched. SIMI leader Abdul Razak had helped Pakistanis in the Samjhauta Express blasts.”

The banned outfit’s commander revealed that meetings were held by SIMI at Kurla, Kapadia Nagar and Mira Road in Mumbai for executing the terror attacks on Samjhauta Express and other blasts in the country.

During the drug interrogation, Nagori revealed that SIMI has a strong presence in Maharashtra, including Malegaon, and he was "aware of the complicity of Muslims in the 2006 Malegaon blasts".

The 32-page narco analysis test report of Safdar Nagori, Kamruddin and Aamil Parvez (a copy of the FSL report is with The Pioneer) quotes Nagori as having said, "In the Malegaon blasts (2006), some of the Muslim members were involved and that he (Nagori) was aware of it. SIMI members were involved in the Samjhauta Express train blasts."

Interestingly, the narco analysis test reports of the trio were studied by the ATS, Mumbai, which had subsequently questioned them.

The Madhya Pradesh Police had arrested the top SIMI commanders, including the Nagoris and Parvez in March 2008.

Nagori also revealed during the narco test that Razak (who had helped the Pakistanis in Samjhauta train blasts) had informed him beforehand about the Samjhauta Express blasts. Razak had sought the help of West Bengal SIMI president Misbah-ul-Islam for the Samjhauta explosions. Razak has a number of relatives in Pakistan, according to Nagori's revelations. Kamruddin Nagori also concurred with Razak's involvement in the Samjhauta Express blasts.