Why were investigations into the Samjhauta Express bomb blasts so hastily
interrupted?
BY TEESTA SETALVAD
On February 18-19, 2007, near Panipat in Haryana, 68 persons
were killed as bombs exploded on the Samjhauta Express bound for Pakistan. Both
India and Pakistan blamed each other for the tragedy. The Indian government
hinted at the involvement of a Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit based across the
border. However, at the first meeting of the Indo-Pak Joint Anti-Terror
Mechanism held on March 6, 2007 it could only hand over a photograph of a
suspected Pakistani national believed to be involved in the terror attack (one
who had also lost family members in the tragedy!) and sought Pakistan’s
cooperation in tracking him down.
In contrast, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Haryana
police, which had been sent to Indore in Madhya Pradesh during the first week of
March 2007 on the basis of investigative inputs, made a positive breakthrough in
the investigations. This included the uncovering of evidence from shopkeepers
who had sold the suitcases in which the RDX is said to have been carried (The
Statesman, March 11, 2007, The Indian Express, March 13 and 19, 2007,
The Hindu, March 14, 2007).
At this stage, when it appeared that the Haryana police had
almost cracked the case, newspapers reported that further investigations had
been abruptly stopped and nothing was heard about the progress of these
investigations immediately thereafter.
Seven months later, while reporting that the investigations into
the Ajmer blast case had also led the Rajasthan police to Madhya Pradesh, The
Indian Express, Pune, in its edition dated October 10, 2007 reported that
when the Haryana police had been on the verge of solving the Samjhauta case in
March 2007, they got no cooperation from their colleagues in Madhya Pradesh and
could thus proceed no further. What information the Haryana police had unearthed
and why the Madhya Pradesh police were so reluctant to pursue it remains a
mystery. The BJP was and is the party in power in Madhya Pradesh.
The Malegaon link
It was only after Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur, Lt Col Srikant Purohit
and others were arrested in connection with the bomb blast in Malegaon that some
information started trickling in. Following pertinent revelations by Purohit in
the narco analysis test conducted on him at the Forensic Science Laboratory,
Bangalore, on November 9, 2008, reports of the possible involvement of the
Malegaon accused in the Samjhauta Express blasts began to appear in the media (Sakal,
Pune, November 13, 2008, The Sunday Times (of India) and Sakal,
November 16, 2008). The Pune Mirror dated November 19, 2008 also reported
that "Purohit told the officials who conducted the narco analysis test that
Praveen Togadia was responsible for the Samjhauta Express blasts".
Thereafter the ATS suddenly altered its stance. Briefing the
press on November 17, 2008, ATS chief, Hemant Karkare said that the ATS public
prosecutor, Ajay Misar, had been misquoted and that Misar had not in fact made a
statement claiming that the RDX stolen by Purohit was used in the Samjhauta
Express bombs (Pudhari and The Times of India, November 18,
2008). The Times of India further reported that "Soon after Misar made
the sensational charge in Nashik the Intelligence Bureau, which is keeping a
close tab on the probe, alerted the centre about the implication of Misar’s
statement. When the train blast took place, the centre had blamed Pakistan’s ISI
for the terror strike on the basis of the bureau’s finding."
Immediately after the blasts on the train India had been quick
to assign responsibility for the attack to a Pakistani outfit. Was this hasty
stand now constraining investigations despite evidence to the contrary? The
Times of India has also quoted a senior bureau officer as saying "The
ATS’s charge on Friday would have impaired the centre’s credibility
internationally and that forensic examination of the blast site and two
unexploded bombs had conclusively proved that RDX was not used" (The Times of
India, November 18, 2008).
Against this background, the hasty interruption of the Samjhauta
probe, after investigators had traced links to Madhya Pradesh, appears
particularly suspicious.