Is Gujarat emerging as hub of Hindutva terror?

By Special Correspondent, TwoCircles.net,

Ahmadabad: Recent investigations by Rajasthan ATS into the bomb blast at Ajmer's Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti's dargah in October 2007 and the arrest of two youths from the state involved in it, points towards Gujarat emerging into a hub for Hindutva terror outfits.

Another high profile accused Swami Aseemanand, who is reported to be the mastermind behind Ajmer and two other blasts as well and who has gone in hiding, is also from Gujarat.

Apart from the arrest of two youths-Harshad Solanki belonging to Vadodara and Mukesh Vasani who is from Godhra for their involvement in Ajmer blast, 806-page chargesheet filed by Rajasthan ATS also points to the entire conspiracy of blasts at Ajmer, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad and Malegaon in Maharashtra to have been hatched in and executed from Gujarat with the direct involvement of Aseemanand.

The 32-year-old Harshad, who was also an accused in the Best Bakery mass massacre case during 2002 Gujarat riots, was in direct contact with Ajmer blast prime accused Sunil Joshi. Besides being involved in planning the Ajmer blasts, he is also reported to be involved in preparing the explosive material used in the attack.

While Harshad was reportedly connected with the Vadodara-unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vasani was also a VHP activist and was actively involved in anti-cow slaughter movement in Godhra.

The ATS chargesheet particularly names two persons from Gujarat: Pragya Singh Thakur arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast and Swami Aseemanand, currently absconding, for the entire conspiracy of bomb blasts and its execution, and providing shelter to some of the accused in his ashram at Subir surrounded by thick jungles in tribal dominated Dangs district in Southern Gujarat, bordering Maharashtra.

Assemanand- the prime accused

According to the chargesheet, Aseemanand held a secret meeting with Pragya Singh, Sunil Joshi, Ramji Kalsagra, Lokesh Sharma, Devendra Gupta, Samandar and Shivam Dhakad during Kumbh mela at Ujjain in April-May 2004.

In that meeting, Aseemanand discussed the attacks at Amarnath yattra, Akshardham mandir and Raghunath Mandir and how to avenge them.

The chargesheet says that Aseemanand organized Shabri Kumbh mela at Shabridham in the Dangs district in 2006. A secret meeting was again held here with the abovementioned people and targets like Delhi's Jama Masjid, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Samjhauta Express were selected under the overall guidance of Aseemanand.

The accused involved in Ajmer blasts also held a meeting in the Gujarati Samaj guest house on October 31, 2005, in Jaipur where RSS leader Indresh Kumar also addressed them secretly.

Aseemanand, says the chargesheet, also provided shelter to Sunil Joshi involved in Ajmer blasts. Sunil Joshi was subsequently murdered in Indore. He was also having close links with Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh, Col. S P Purohit, Dayanand Pandey and Sameer Kulkarni.

Journey of Assemanand

Aseemanand's name for the first time cropped up during investigation of the Malegaon blast case in 2008. However, he disappeared soon after the arrest of Pragya Singh fearing his own arrest. Pragya was reported to be privy to lots of information about Aseemanand as she stayed in Surat, adjoining Dangs and both used to meet and discuss very frequently. Aseemanand is reported to have telephonic talks with Pragya before Malegaon blasts and this conversation is reported to have been recorded by security agencies.

Though Gujarat police was quick to nab the accused allegedly involved in serial bomb blasts of Ahmadabad in July 2008-all of them Muslims-from every nook and corner of India; it surprisingly has no clue about where Aseemanand is hiding.

Neither does the Dangs police have any information about him nor are other senior officials aware of his movement and activities. Surat Range Inspector General A K Singh told media persons a few days ago that Aseemanand had not been seen in the area for a long time.

Hailing from Hooghly district in West Bengal and originally known as Jatin Chatterjee, Aseemanand joined Ramakrishna Mission for a brief stint. A post-graduate in Botany, he moved to the Dangs in 2001 through a Sangh Parivar affiliate, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.

He launched anti-missionary movement from Waghai in the Dangs and in 2006 he organized Shabarikumbh Mela inviting journalists from all over the country.

Aseemanand was also reported to be very successful in checking tribal conversion to Christianity which was spreading very fast in the South Gujarat tribal belt. However, his digression into conspiring and executing armed terror activities seems to have become the cause of his downfall and reducing him to the status of a fugitive, fleeing in the jungles to avoid police net.

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--
Palash Biswas
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