Indian Court acquits all four accused in Samjhauta Express case

A special NIA court on Wednesday acquitted all four accused in the Samjhauta Blast case. The court in Panchkula also dismissed the application seeking permission for deposition of Pakistani witnesses in the case.

The application was filed by a Pakistan resident Rahila Wakil on March 11 through advocate Momin Malik.

“The NIA Special Court has concluded that the investigating agency has failed to prove the conspiracy charge and ruled that accused deserve a benefit of the doubt,” NIA Counsel RK Handa said.

At least 68 people including 43 Pakistan citizens were killed in the 2007 Samjhauta Express IED blasts. The NIA in its chargesheet had named eight persons as accused.

Among them are Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary, who appeared before the court. While Sunil Joshi, the alleged mastermind of the attack, was killed in December 2007.

Three other accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Amit are still at large and have been declared proclaimed offenders.

The trial has been going on since 2010 at the Panchkula NIA court and around 224 witnesses out of the total 299 have deposed before the court.

The Samjhauta Express, also called Attari Express, is a bi-weekly train that runs on Wednesdays and Sundays – between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan۔

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