NIA takes Asimanand to Dangs

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) is in the Dangs to get an idea of the kind of activities Swami Asimanand, an accused in Ajmer, Malegaon and Hyderabad blasts, was involved in.

The team has brought the religious leader with them to do a sort of reconstruction of the activities the religious leader was involved in before the blasts.

With NIA officials in the Dangs, along with Asimanand, many people who knew the religious leader have gone underground. The team of 30 officials is looking for proof and information linked to Asimanand’s exact involvement in the planning of the subversive activities.  

The team reached Dangs on Tuesday afternoon and went straight to Shabri Temple located near Subir (northern Dangs). The officials checked the entire place and the small ashram built beside the temple, where Asimanand is believed to have held meetings with saffron leaders to plan the blasts. From there, the team went to another site near Shabri.

On Wednesday, the officials took Asimanand to Pumpa Sarovar, where Shabri Kumbh was organised in February 2006. It is believed that it was the place where the religious leader held the final round of meetings with some top Hindu leaders and Akhadas for the blasts that rocked Malegaon in September 2006.

From Pumpa Sarovar, the team moved towards a secret hideout of Asimanand in the forest. It is said to the place where Pragya Thakur, an accused in Malegaon blast, used to meet Asimanand during her visit to the Dangs.

“NIA is also collecting information as to who all supported Asimanand in his activities. Many prominent persons, including Dangs BJP MLA Vijay Patel, are on NIA’s radar. While Patel is in Gandhinagar, others have gone underground,” a source in Navsari police said.

The NIA team is on a two-day visit to the Dangs and it will go to Delhi on Thursday, said sources. The Dangs police have been kept away from the entire operation and the NIA has sought help from Navsari police. Meanwhile, the flow of tourists to Shabri Dham was unaffected. The temple and the trust are now being operated by Asimanand’s associates.

Asimanand was arrested by the CBI from an ashram in Haridwar (Uttrakhand) on November 19. He had gone underground soon after investigating agencies looked for him after the blasts.