The Rajasthan Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday filed a chargesheet against five 2007 Ajmer blast accused, including Devendra Gupta, allegedly linked to radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, accusing them of murder and defiling a place of worship.

The 806-page chargesheet was filed by the investigating agency in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jagendra Kumar Jain in connection with the blast on the premises of the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti that left three persons dead and 15 others injured.

Gupta and the other two accused in the case — Lokesh Sharma and Chander Shekhar Lave— are in judicial custody. The accused have been charged with sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (conspiracy) and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship) of IPC among others.

Two other accused — Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangre —are absconding while another accused Sunil Joshi died during the course of investigation, according to ATS officer Satyendra Singh who filed the charge sheet. The prosecution has cited 133 witnesses.

The court fixed October 26 for arguments on the charge sheet.

Gupta, who is believed to have links with Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, was arrested in April this year when he had come to meet his ailing mother here.

Officials had been probing Gupta’s alleged links with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused in the Malegaon blast case. The ATS had arrested Chandra Shekhar from Madhya Pradesh.

Keywords: Ajmer blast, Abhinav Bharat, right wing terror