I am being forced to make false statements: Swami Aseemanand

Hindu right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Samjhauta train blast case, Monday claimed "pressure" from investigating agencies to make "false statements".

"It is such a big case which is connected to Pakistan. They (authorities here) want to run the case on the basis of false statements made under pressure. It poses a question mark on our system," he told reporters here after a hearing.

"I am being forced to tell things," he said.

The matter is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which has on June 20, filed a charge sheet against Aseemanand and four others -- Lokesh Sharma, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalasangra and Sunil Joshi, who is now dead.

Sixty-eight people, mostly Pakistanis were killed in the Samjhauta Express blast at Panipat's Diwana village, about 80 km from Delhi in February 2007.

Aseemanand is accused in 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three lives and left 15 others injured. Besides, the investigating agency has claimed his role in blasts in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and Malegaon.

The self-styled seer was arrested by the CBI last year from Haridwar in Uttarakhand for his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast case.

In his confession that was recorded before the magistrate few months ago, Aseemanand had alleged that a right-wing group was responsible for the 2006 blasts in Malegaon, which killed 37 people and injured over 100.

The case will now be heard on January 10.