One of the main accused in the 2007 Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast, Bhavesh Patel, has stirred up a controversy by alleging that three Union Ministers and a Congress leader forced him to implicate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and senior RSS functionary Indresh Kumar in the terror attack.
Patel, suspected to be part of the module that triggered bomb explosion at the famous Sufi shrine on October 11, 2007, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on March 2013.
In an explosive letter to NIA special court, Patel alleged that he was introduced to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, MoS for Home Affairs R P N Singh, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Congress leader Digvijay Singh.
Patel said they wanted him to name RSS chief in the statement made before a judge on March 23, but his conscience did not allow him to do so. Patel also named a few NIA officials, who were allegedly putting pressure on him to turn a prosecution witness in the case. “I was promised bail within a month and `5 lakh to give fabricated statement before the judge,” Patel wrote on September 20, 2013.
He claimed that a meeting with Congress leader Digvijaya Singh was facilitated through Acharya Pramod Krishnan in his ashram in November 2012. Patel also claimed that he was transferred to Alwar prison from Jaipur without intimation to the court after he refused to name RSS leaders.
‘Charges Baseless’
Home Minister SushilKumar Shinde and his colleague in the Ministry R P N Singh dismissed the allegation saying they do not know any Bhavesh Patel. “I do not know any Bhavesh Patel. I have never met him. If someone takes my name, what can I do,” Shinde said.
Singh said the allegations were completely baseless. “I deny the allegations. I was not even the Minister of State for Home at the time he was referring to. It has been only 11 months since I took charge in the Home Ministry,” Singh said.