Panchkula, September 29: A special court on Wednesday allowed National Investigating Agency (NIA) sleuths to take evidence and proof of Samjhauta blast case to Hyderabad, for comparison with those of bomb attacks in Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer.
NIA lawyer had moved an application seeking permission to take evidence to CFSL laboratory in Hyderabad, in the court of NIA special judge Subhash Mehla.
Judge Mehla, who reserved his order on Tuesday, has also imposed some conditions on NIA. “Court directed NIA to take the blast samples and evidence to Hyderabad in safe custody for examination by experts. NIA has been told to inform the court in advance about the date of examination by CFSL experts,” said NIA lawyer R K Handa.
“Two defence counsels would be present during the examination. Fixed expenses of Rs 20,000 each will be given to these lawyers by the NIA,” Handa said.
Earlier, forensic experts from Hyderabad had reexamined the sealed samples, kept in a court’s storeroom, on September 20 and 21.
After reexamination, NIA lawyer filed a plea to take the samples to Hyderabad for their comparison with samples recovered from other bomb blast sites.
Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and four others are the main accused in Samjhauta Express blast case, in which 68 persons were killed near Panipat in Haryana, in February 2007.
Aseemanand, a member of the right-wing Hindu group – Abhinav Bharat – was arrested by CBI on November 19, 2010, from Haridwar in Uttarakhand for his alleged role in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad, where 14 lives were lost.
–Agencies