Bounty announced for trio wanted in Samjhauta train blast

The National Investigation Agency has announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on two people and Rs 2 lakh for a third person in the Samjhauta train blast case of February 2007, in which 68 people were killed and several others injured.

Senior officials in the Union home ministry said these three also enjoyed proximity to Swami Aseemananad, a senior member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whose confession on organising the blasts has been recorded before a magistrate.

The three have been identified as Sandeep Dange alias Parmanand, Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Ramji (both now bearing a Rs 10 lakh bounty) and Ashok. Senior officials said the first two were involved in the case from the beginning and would be able to provide more information on the planning and execution. Ashok, with a bounty of Rs 2 lakh, was closely linked to both. Aseemanand’s confession says Dange and Ramchandra had planned and executed several other blasts in the country, too.

During the initial days of investigation in the case, the police and central authorities had said Safdar Nagori, an allegedly hardline member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India had carried out the blast.

RSS just a benign advisor, says Gadkari
Defending the role of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) within the Bharatiya Janata Party and with regard to the recent revelations about its members having set off bombs, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said the parent organisation didn’t believe in violence and was not dictatorial.

Releasing a book, Secrets of RSS, Demystifying the Sangh, on the first anniversary of his becoming BJP chief, Gadkari said there had been no intervention by the Sangh in his year’s tenure. “I have never got any orders from the Sangh.”

Adding: “RSS is a nationalist organisation working for the country but its members are now being made an accused in blast cases. The constitution of RSS clearly states that there is no place for people who believe in violence.”