Chandigarh, March 11: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Haryana's Panchkula deferred hearing in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case till March 14 after a Pakistani national whose died in the blast moved an application. In the explosion which took place on February 18, 2007, 68 people including 43 Pakistan citizens were killed. However, authorities were unable to identify 15 people. A total of 12 people were also injured in the blast. The explosion happened at night when the train was passing through Diwani village near Panipat in Haryana. Samjhauta Express Services Resume From Tomorrow After India and Pakistan Agree to Operationalise Train.

The NIA in the chargesheet said that the explosion targeted Muslims from Pakistan. Swami Aseemanand, a member Abhinav Bharat, Lokesh Sharma, Sunil Joshi, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra alias Ramji were named in the chargsheet filed by the NIA. These accused were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy under the Explosive Substances Act and Railways Act. Two supplementary chargesheets were also filed in August 2012 and June 2013. Digvijay Singh Blames 'Sangh Ideology' For Malegaon, Samjhauta Express Blasts.

According to reports, four IEDs had been planted in the unreserved compartments, but only two of them exploded and the remaining were recovered later. In an order passed on May 04, 2018, the special judge hearing the case over the slow progress in the trial. A special investigation team (SIT) initially probed the case. The SIT had also arrested a Pakistani national Ajmat Ali, but later he was given a clean chit.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 11, 2019 05:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).