JOIN USRight wing activist Aseemanand, also an accused in several other terror cases, sought bail after he was produced in the court here along with another Ajmer blast case accused Bharat Bhai. It is alleged that the two masterminded the 2007 bomb attack at the dargah of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti that left three persons dead and 15 others injured.
Aseemanand moved a petition seeking bail on technical ground citing Section 167 (2) of CrPC which provides that a person cannot be kept in custody for more than 90 days during investigation. He argued that since the prescribed period has lapsed and the investigating agency has failed to file any charge sheet against him, he should be granted bail.
Opposing the bail plea, the NIA moved an application requesting the court to extend the time for filing the charge sheet against the two accused. The court will hear the matter on May 2.
The court, however, extended the judicial remand of Aseemanad and Bharat Bhai till May 14. The NIA was handed over the investigation into the case on April 6, 2011. Earlier, the ATS-Rajasthan was probing the blasts. The ATS has already chargsheeted Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma alias Kaalo and Chandrasheker Levae in the court of District Judge, Ajmer.
Aseemanand in his confessional statement recorded by a magistrate on December 12, 2010, said he and several other Sangh activists had a direct role in the blasts, including those at Malegaon, the Samjhauta Express, Ajmer dargah and Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. He was arrested in January this year in the dargah blast case.