Court orders further remand for Aseemanand

Panchkula : A special court here on Thursday ordered 14-day jail remand for Swami Aseemanand, the prime accused in the Samjhauta Express blast case.

Aseemanand, who was arrested on Nov 19 for his alleged involvement in the Ajmer, Hyderabad and Samjhauta Express blasts, was produced before the special court on expiry of his 10-day police remand.

During his previous remand term the National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the Samjhauta Exrpess blast had interrogated him.

The NIA recently announced rewards upto Rs 22 lakh for information about three more suspects in the case.

Aseemanand faces the charge of leading the bombing which killed 68 passengers of Samjhauta Express in Feb, 2007.

Majority of the victims were Pakistan nationals.

Swami Aseemanand alias Jatin Chatterjee,who hails from Hooghly district in West Bengal, is a post-graduate in Botany.

He settled at Dangs in south Gujarat in late 1990s.

He is believed to be close to Sadhvi Pragya who is also a suspect in the Malegaon blast case.