Ajmer, February 10: One of the accused in the Ajmer dargah blast case, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar, who was nabbed from Valsad in Gujarat last Friday, is likely to turn approver in the case, ATS sources said.
Currently in police custody, Rateshwar is a prosecution witness against RSS functionary Indresh Kumar, Swami Aseemanand and Sunil Joshi in the 2007 Ajmer blast case.
“We have convinced Rateshwar to turn approver,” said an ATS official.
He is also the prosecution witness in the Mecca Masjid blasts case in Hyderabad which is being probed by CBI.
In the chargesheet filed by CBI in the Mecca Masjid case recently, Rateshwar had stated that Sunil Joshi called him up saying that he had triggered the blast at Ajmer dargah with the consent of Indresh Kumar.
The call was reportedly made a few hours after the blast in Ajmer on October 11, 2007 . He had also claimed that Sunil Joshi and Swami Aseemanand, both key suspects, were close to each other and Swami had provided shelter to Joshi after the dargah blast.
At present, Aseemanand is in the custody of Rajasthan ATS and Sunil Joshi was found killed in Madhya Pradesh a few months after dargah attack.
The ATS arrested Rateshwar last week which is being seen as an attempt to tighten the noose around Indresh. “We might use him as approver against Indresh under Section 306 of CrPC (tender of pardon to accomplice),” said an ATS official. The ATS has named Indresh as key conspirator in the Ajmer blast, but had not included him as accused in the chargesheet.
ATS sources also said that Rateshwar’s role in the Ajmer dargah blast was revealed by Swami Aseemanand during his interrogation in Jaipur. The CBI had first rounded him up a few months ago. During interrogation, when he revealed some vital information regarding Mecca Masjid blast, he was made prosecution witness by the CBI. “Bharat feared that Swami might spill the beans about him so he disappeared, but was eventually arrested,” said the officer.
He is accused of arranging explosives for the blast which took place in 2007. He was produced in an Ajmer court on February 5 and sent to seven-day police custody.
–Agencies