NIA to probe Samjhauta Express blast

NEW DELHI - The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will take over investigations into the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing as well as the plan to attack a multinational firm in Hyderabad, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said here Friday.

“NIA has been directed to take up the cases of Samjhauta Express and the attack on Deloitte Hyderabad,” Chidambaram told reporters here while presenting his ministry’s monthly report card for July, an exercise he started soon after assuming office.

He pointed out that the cases were being handed over to the NIA as they had not been solved. “Some of the old cases not being solved are being given (to the NIA) as we want to solve them. Samjhauta Express is one example,” said Chidambaram.

At least, 68 people were killed in bomb blasts on board the Samjhauta Express near Diwana railway station in Panipat, Haryana, Feb 18, 2007. The train links India and Pakistan.

In the other case, an alleged member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group was arrested in May this year for allegedly plotting to carry out attacks against multinational auditing firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Hyderabad.

The Samjhauta Express case was being probed by a Haryana Special Investigation Team. Maharashtra Police, which were investigating the Malegaon bomb blasts, had at one time accused Hindu right wing extremists of being behind the Samjhauta Express bombings.

But Chidambaram demurred from pointing any fingers, stating the case had not been solved yet.

However, he did note that the NIA would be the best agency to investigate the matter, so that it could look into inter-state probes like the Amjer bomb blast, Mecca Masjid blast and the Malegaon attacks. All of them are being investigated by three different state police agencies.