Swami Aseemanand's interview to The Caravan magazine's February issue has stirred up a controversy.
The terror attack accused was quoted by the magazine as saying that some top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders knew about the plots to attack the Samjhauta Express, the Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Dargah in 2007.
The magazine report has claimed that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, then a general secretary, and another senior leader Indresh Kumar, had told Aseemanand that "you have our blessings" when informed about the terror attack plots.
Aseemanand is an accused in the three terror attacks that killed scores of people. He is currently lodged in an Ambala jail.
However, sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case against Aseemanand, said he never named any RSS leader during questioning. NIA sources said that chargesheet in the case has been filed and Bhagwat has not been named.
The RSS, too, has rubbished the allegations and questioned the veracity of The Caravan's interviews with Aseemanand.
Aseemanand's lawyer J.S. Rana questioned how the interview could have been taped since audio tapes were not allowed inside the jail.
The Caravan's executive editor Vinod K. Jose told Headlines Today that the interviews were done with the full consent of Aseemanand. This is neither a sting operation nor an entrapment, he said.
But Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde seems to believe the report. "If Aseemanand has made the revelation, then it must be true."
Here is an excerpt from the magazine report, where Aseemanand supposedly made the allegation:
"Over the course of our conversations, Aseemanand's description of the plot in which he was involved became increasingly detailed. In our third and fourth interviews, he told me that his terrorist acts were sanctioned by the highest levels of the RSS-all the way up to Mohan Bhagwat, the current RSS chief, who was the organisation's general secretary at the time. Aseemanand told me that Bhagwat said of the violence, "It's very important that it be done. But you should not link it to the Sangh."
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