Samjhauta blast accused confesses to crime

The Indore-based businessman arrested for his alleged involvement in the Samjhauta express blast in 2007, on Tuesday accepted of being a partisan to the crime before a frenzied media.

Kamal Chouhan, the accused, was produced before a special court in Panchkula near Chandigarh.

Answering to question posed by the media after the court proceedings, Chouhan admitted that he had planted the bomb on the New Delhi-lahore train. His counsel, however, brushed off the confession as an act under “duress.”

Chouhan’s family also came down heavily on the NIA, rubbishing the investigating agency’s claim of nabbing the businessman from sector-56 in Noida. He had instead been arrested from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, his family said.

The special court has remanded Chouhan till February 24. The NIA argued in favour of remanding Chouhan as he would be useful in extracting information on the co-conspirators. His father Radhey Shyam, who was present in the court, said: “My son is a farmer and nothing to do with the case. He is only 22 when the NIA claims he is 28 years old.”

Anil Soni, Chouhan’s counsel, accused the NIA of “playing hide and seek in this whole matter.” The court later granted Soni 20 minutes to interact with Chouhan.