Court records statement of Aseemanand

Panchkula (Haryana), Jan 15 (PTI) A local court todayrecorded the statement of right-wing Hindu group AbhinavBharat member Swami Aseemanand in connection with 2007Samjhauta Express train blast case.

Assemanand was produced in the court of Chief JudicialMagistrate (CJM) Judge Rakesh Singh amid tight police securityand his statement was recorded in-camera till 5:15 pm.

The statement recorded under section 164 Cr.P.C. hasbeen kept by the court under wrap.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) had moved anapplication on Januarty 13 before the court of CJM forrecording the statement of Aseemanand alias Jatin Chatterjee.

On January 13, Assemanand was remanded in judicialcustody for 14 days by special judge Ritu Garg after NIAsubmitted that it is through with its interrogation.

NIA had last month brought Aseemanand, also accusedin the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad, from Hyderabadand produced him in a court here on December 23 which firstremanded him in one-day custody of NIA as the judge of thedesignated court was on leave that day.

The Samjhauta blast in Haryana''s Panipat district left 68people dead in February 2007.

Aseemanand was arrested by CBI on November 19 for hisalleged involvement in Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad thatleft nine people dead.

He was earlier living under a fake identity in Haridwarand had also procured fake identity cards.

A post-graduate in Botany, Aseemanand is a resident ofHoogly in West Bengal and came to the tribal-dominated Dangsin south Gujarat in late 1990s.

His name had also come up during the probe in Malegaonblast of 2008 when Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad recoveredthe number of the Swami''s driver from Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur, another Abhinav Bharat member and an accused arrestedin Malegaon blast case.