Samjhauta case: "They filed cases based on fake evidence to create the theory," Arun Jaitley said
Highlights
- "They filed cases based on fake evidence to create theory": Arun Jaitley
- He said wrong set of people were "framed" by forging evidence
- Swami Aseemanand among four men acquitted in the Samjhauta blast case
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the Congress has done a great disservice to the nation by coining the term "Hindu terror", a week after an anti-terror court in Haryana acquitted a saffron-robed monk and three others in the 2007 bombing of the Samjhauta Express that left nearly 70 people dead.
"They filed cases based on fake evidence to create the theory, but it is upon the court to decide in the end. The court has said it (Samjhauta case) is a case of no evidence and hence, those who coined the term Hindu terror are now showing devotion," Arun Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi on a day when Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra Gandhi went to Ayodhya to campaign for the national elections next month.
"It is good that they visit temples and also acknowledge that it is the birthplace of Lord Ram," Mr Jaitley said, alluding to temple visits in the past by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his sister's Ayodhya rally.
The finance minister said the investigation into the Samjhauta blast case was done between 2007 and 2009 when the UPA was in power. Swami Aseemanand and among four men who were acquitted on March 20.
The National Investigation Agency or NIA, which was probing the case, failed to prove the involvement of the men in the attack allegedly planned as a revenge for terror strikes on Indian temples. The three others acquitted were Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary.
The blast on the train headed from Delhi to Pakistan's Lahore took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007. The blast had ripped apart two coaches of Samjhauta Express, killing 68 people, mostly Pakistani nationals.
Mr Jaitley said the wrong set of people were "framed" by forging evidence and the entire Hindu community was "smeared", something, he added, happened for the first time in history. "Who will take accountability for this? It rests with the leadership of the Congress. The society will never forgive them," Mr Jaitley, accompanied by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the BJP's media head Anil Baluni, told reporters.
The people responsible for the blast in Samjhauta Express, in which 68 people died, remained unpunished for want of credible and admissible evidence, Special judge Jagdeep Singh wrote in the 160-page order which was made public on Thursday.
With inputs from PTI