Ajmer blast: BJP accuses Congress of 'setting up' Swami Aseemanand's arrest

Welcoming the acquittal of 2007 Ajmer Dragah blast accused Swami Aseemanand from the case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said that his arrest was a setup by the Congress Party to malign the image of nationalist organizations like the RSS and BJP.

"We welcome the acquittal of Aseemanand. We always believed that it was the setup by the power which was there at the Centre at that time, because they wanted to malign the image of a nationalist organization like the RSS and BJP," BJP leader Sudesh Verma told ANI.

Verma further said that the Congress was working with a certain purpose as all the witness in the case were hostile, indicating that how the witnesses might have been created to malign individuals in the organization.

Earlier on Wednesday, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court convicted three people in the Ajmer blast case, while acquitting seven others, including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Swami Aseemanand, giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Those convicted were Sunil Joshi, who has figured in other cases, Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel.

Of these, Joshi died in June 2014.

Gupta and Patel were convicted under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and under sections of the Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

On October 11, 2007, a powerful bomb had gone off on the premises of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan during iftar at around 6.12 p.m., killing three people and injuring 17 others.