[Reader-list] Top RSS man gave SIMs for terror strikes

[Aditya Raj Baul]

Top RSS man gave SIMs for terror strikes

Dalip Singh
New Delhi, July 13, 2010
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/105172/India/top-rss-man-gave-sims-for-terror-strikes.html

Investigators probing the Hindutva terror blasts that rocked Ajmer
Sharif in Rajasthan and Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid are untangling a
complex web of SIM card transfers, pointing the finger of suspicion to
a senior RSS functionary.

Ashok Varshney, former prant pracharak of the RSS in Jharkhand,
allegedly sourced and handed over two SIM cards to Devender Gupta, key
accused in the October 11, 2007, Ajmer Sharif blast, investigators
said. These SIM cards were also allegedly used to stage the May 18,
2007, Mecca Masjid explosion. As many as 17 people died in the two
terror strikes.

Investigators said they were still in the process of gathering
evidence on the exact usage of the SIM cards in the two strikes, and
added these might have been used to trigger the low- intensity
explosions at both places.

These SIMs were procured from Hyderabad and Ajmer and passed on to
Gupta, also an RSS worker. Rajasthan Police arrested Gupta with two
others on April 30 this year in connection with the terror strike at
the Ajmer Sharif dargah , allegedly masterminded by Hindutva
activists.

Acting on specific leads, the anti-terrorism squads (ATS) of
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), have questioned Varshney as well as RSS central
committee member Ashok Berry several times since June 21 both at
Lucknow and Delhi.

Investigators said they had confronted Varshney and Berry on the SIM
card purchases, but both stoutly denied the charges and insisted that
Gupta had acted on his own. Varshney's defence has all along been that
he was never present at either of the blast sites - Ajmer and
Hyderabad - and, therefore, could not have sourced the cards.

ATS officials had said Gupta had procured at least one SIM card from
Dumka near Jamtara in Jharkhand. In all, nine SIM cards were procured
from various locations in West Bengal and Jharkhand, in addition to
Hyderabad and Ajmer. However, it is not known which of these were
utilised to trigger the blasts.

Despite Varshney's dogged denials, the CBI insists that it sees
similarities between the mobile phone- detonated explosives used in
Ajmer and Hyderabad, and that it was more than likely that the same
module was working on putting the bombs together. In fact, CBI
director Ashwani Kumar has confirmed this on record.

"There is a definite link between the Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts,"
he said recently. He had specifically named Sunil Joshi, another RSS
activist. "He played a key role in orchestrating the Ajmer blast…
and a set of mobile SIM cards were used to activate the bombs, first
in Ajmer and then again in Hyderabad," Kumar said.

Though Varshney denied any involvement in sourcing the SIM cards, both
he and Berry acknowledged their association with Gupta. In fact,
before his arrest on April 30, Gupta had stayed at Varshney's Kanpur
home. From there, he went to Sitapur where Hindutva leaders had
arranged a safe house for him.

A CBI team traced these links and arrived at Sitapur recently looking
for more evidence against Varshney and Berry. Following these leads,
CBI summoned the RSS leaders last week to Delhi and questioned them
further, looking to piece together strands of the conspiracy that led
to the terror strikes at Ajmer, Hyderabad and Malegaon in Maharashtra.

Investigators now concede that as they dig further, more rightwing
Hindutva leaders are likely to come under the scanner. The RSS would
find it difficult to deny their association with Varshney and Berry.

Berry was, till now, the kshetra pracharak (regional in-charge) of
Uttar Pradesh. He is also a member of the RSS national executive,
which has between 15 and 20 members. Varshney was the prant pracharak
(state incharge) of Jharkhand.

Therefore, in a meeting between top RSS functionary Madan Das Debi
with the BJP brass - Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and
organisation secretary Ram Lal - on July 7, the discussion reportedly
centred around future strategy depending on how deep the Congress-led
government would dig in probing the RSS for terror links.

Subsequent to this meeting, Varshney reportedly met with Jaitley, but
the BJP chose to not comment on the meeting saying nothing of this
sort had happened.

The "political and legal" ramifications of the investigating agencies
probing Sangh links with terror strikes, especially regarding
Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts were discussed.

The RSS, however, has completely denied all association with any
terror outfit. "The position of the Sangh was articulated by our
sarkaryavah Bhaiyyaji Joshi some time back," RSS spokesperson Manmohan
Vaidya said. "We maintain that terrorism should be dealt with
strongly. The Sangh is a cultural organisation and we have nothing to
do with any of these activities. The RSS denounces violence of any
kind."

On the other hand, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad was ambivalent
whether the party will provide legal assistance to the RSS
functionaries accused of terror links. "It is the right of every
accused to have legal assistance. But where does the question of the
RSS needing legal help arise? As far as the BJP is concerned, our
position on terrorism remains the same, that it should be dealt with
strongly and that the government should not play vote bank politics,"
Prasad said.

(With inputs from Poornima Joshi in New Delhi)
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