NIA unable to crack money trail to Mecca Masjid blast case

The NIA claims that they have evidence to show that Swami Aseemanand handed over money to execute the blast. However, there have been no breakthrough in finding the money trail. Vicky Nanjappa reports.

The National Investigating Agency which is investigating the Mecca Masjid blasts of Hyderabad is currently looking at the money trail that led to the execution of these attacks. Although the NIA has found that it was right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat member Swami Aseemanand who handed over the money to execute the blasts, it is clear that he was not the man who was primarily responsible for raising the funds.

Although investigators have been looking into the flow of funds into the ashram that he ran, they say that Aseemanand was entrusted with the task of stocking the funds and not raising them. The conspirators felt that it was best to stock money in the ashram since they are exempted from any normal inspection. Moreover, they thought that the money kept in the ashram could be passed off as donations and there would be no real suspicion.

Today the NIA claims that they have evidence to show that Aseemanand had handed over Rs 25,000 to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker Sunil Joshi to carry out the Mecca Masjid blasts. Similar transactions had been made during the Malegaon and also the Samjhauta Express blasts, the investigators pointed out.

However, investigators have still not been able to unearth the money trails into these incidents. Probe agencies have been back and forth on several aspects but no real breakthrough has been possible.

It has been established that it was the ashram run at Dangs in Gujarat where all the money landed. There were several like-minded operatives who were part of this operation and each one had a small role to play in raising funds.

However, they all wanted Aseemanand to handle the money, as they felt that the trail would never lead up to him. There is a lot of money that has come into his ashram through donations as he was undertaking some work for the tribals. Moreover, these persons ran odd businesses through which they raised money. It is pretty hard to find out what money was finally used to execute these blasts.

In the Nanded blasts case it was found that the accused persons were running a gym and the money that was made through it was finally used for the unsuccessful Nanded operation. The police have, however, not found any similar modus operandi in the Mecca Masjid or Samjautha blasts case.

The police are also trying to find out if money that legitimately came into these places was diverted for terror operations. The NIA has said that it would be looking into that aspect as well. Probes into Aseemanand have revealed that he had paid Rs 25,000 to Sunil in the presence of a businessman Bharath Bai at Valsad in Gujarat.

The primary focus of the NIA at the moment is the Mecca Masjid blasts case. They are trying to find if there was any local help in arranging the money and in logistics. There have been allegations by Muslim organisations in Hyderabad that some Hindu groups have taken a violent turn and have helped in organising these attacks.

The police which has taken into account these allegations have however not found a dedicated module in Hyderabad that could have helped carry out this blast. There may be one or two persons who were in the know of this operation, but it was largely staged and planned by the Joshi gang, which operated mainly out of North India, the police claim.

The NIA claims that the Ajmer, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express attacks were all part of the same module. "In the days to come a couple of more arrests could be expected and this we hope would lead us to the money trail," say investigators.