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National

Fresh allegations of RSS terror links surface

Neena Vyas

Ram Madhav rejects charges and says “there is nothing new in this”

NEW DELHI: Fresh allegations of terror links of a serious nature have surfaced against a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, Indresh Kumar, on a day when RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav rubbished all such reports as baseless.

A sting operation carried out by Headlines Today television channel on Thursday evening telecast tapes of secret meetings discussing the need to carry out terrorist attacks against Islamic meetings.

Mr. Indresh Kumar, who is a member of the Kendriya Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini (central working committee) of the RSS, and was ‘sampark pracharak' of the organisation till 2006, is seen in meetings where clearly terror attacks, the need for gathering explosives and so on were discussed.

In a press release issued by the channel, it was claimed the video and audio tapes telecast by it were extracted by the investigation agencies from the laptop of Dayanand Pandey, who is an accused in the Malegaon blast case along with Pragya Thakur.

The television channel claimed the tapes had been tested by forensic laboratories and would be part of the evidence gathered by the agencies.

One shocking revelation – on an audio tape – was the claim by a medical doctor in Delhi and allegedly part of the saffron terror ring, that in fact he had gone to the Jamia Millia Islamia in 2007 with the intent to attack Vice-President Hamid Ansari who was attending a function there but could not find the opportunity to carry it out.

Soon after the telecast, Mr. Ram Madhav once again rejected the claims of the television channel saying, “There is nothing new in this, nothing that was not known after the earlier investigations into the Malegaon blast case. I once again deny the involvement of any senior RSS functionary in any terror-related activity.”

He pointed out that only recently the CBI director had stated no RSS functionary had been interrogated by his agency.

The television tapes show B.L. Prem, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP, Indresh Kumar, and several others talking to each other about bombing conspiracies and the need to hit out at Muslims.

After the arrest of RSS pracharak Devendra Gupta and saffron activist Lokesh Sharma in connection with the Ajmer Sharief blast, the organisation had distanced itself from them and said it was ready to cooperate with the police. However, if Mr. Indresh Kumar were to be connected to any terror plot, it would be difficult for the RSS to escape taint, for he was a very senior leader. He was one of the leaders – behind the scenes – of the Amarnath land issue agitation, some BJP leaders have confirmed.

Several sympathisers and members of the larger sangh parivar have been arrested. But there are others who are allegedly linked and who have not yet been taken in by the investigating agencies.

Recently, the CPI (M) charged in a statement that the government was deliberately going slow on these investigations and demanded facts of the case from it. It wanted the government to set up a fast track court for the so-called ‘Hindu' terror link.

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