Samjhauta case: Court declares two accused as offenders

Panchkula (Haryana), Jul 1 (PTI) A special court hearing
the Samjhauta blast case Friday declared two of the accused as
proclaimed offenders and posted for July 18 the next hearing
in the case.
During the in-camera hearing of the case, the court
declared Ram Chandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange as proclaimed
offenders in the case after the NIA said that it had failed to
locate them, defence counsel M Rathi told reporters here.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had on June 20
charged Swami Aseemanand and four others with triggering
explosions in the cross-border Samjhauta Express in 2007 that
left 68 people dead and 12 injured.
In the charge sheet filed before the vacation Court of
Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanchan Mahi, the NIA
had accused Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi (now dead), Lokesh Sharma,
Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji of
hatching a criminal conspiracy which resulted in bomb blasts
in the tain.
Aseemanand and Sharma are already in judicial custody
in Ambala jail. Both of them were present in the court Friday
but they refused to talk to the media.
Apart from Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three
lives and left 15 others injured, Aseemanand and Lokesh Kumar
Sharma are accused in several other blast cases across the
country, including those at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and
Malegaon. PTI VJ
KAP