NIA court defers pronouncement of verdict in Ajmer Dargah blast case to March 8

Our Correspondent

Jaipur, February 25 

A special court trying the 2007 explosion that killed three people and injured 15 at Ajmer Dargah on Saturday put off its verdict to March 8.

A powerful explosion at Ajmer’s Dargah Sharif occurred in the month of Ramadan — the holiest month for Muslims — in what investigators said was an attempt to foment communal tension and riots.

Rajasthan's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) first formally charged three people on October 20, 2010. The National Investigation Agency submitted its first supplementary chargesheet naming two people on April 28, 2011; second on July 18, 2011, with eight names and third on October 29, 2013, with two.

Investigators also found an abandoned bag with unexploded bombs and two SIM cards on the scene of the explosion.

In their chargesheets, the agencies accused some Hindu fundamentalists with links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of engineering the blast at the dargah, as well as one at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, to avenge attacks on Amarnath Yatra in 2002 and Raghunath Temple in Jammu by Muslim terrorist organisations. 

Of the 13 suspected, four are still on the run, with bounties of Rs.10 lakh each for information leading to their arrest.