Aseemanand's judicial custody extended till June 7

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A local court here on Thursday extended the judicial custody of Samjhauta blast case accused Swami Aseemanand till June seven after the investigating agency NIA assured the Judge that a charge sheet will be filed against him before the next date of hearing.

The hearing in the case took place through video-conferencing with the accused lodged in central jail in Ambala.

The defence submitted that the NIA team, which sought a permission from the court to interrogate Aseemanand for two days on Saturday and Sunday last, did not turn up even as the Swami's advocate was present on the both the occasions.

The prosecution has failed to do justice as it had asked the court to give it two days time to further interrogate the alleged accused, the defence told the court.

The prosecution, however, today assured the court that it would file the charge sheet in the case by June seven or before it.

Accused Swami Aseemanand's, whose bail plea was rejected by a sessions court here on May 12, had already denied having made any statement to the National Investigation Agency about his involvement in the Samjhauta blast case.

Aseemanand, through his counsel, had charged the NIA with pressurising and torturing him mentally and physically to extort a statement from him.

A total of 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed in Samjhauta Express blast, at Panipat's Diwana village.

Earlier on May 7, a CBI court at Jaipur, Rajasthan, had also rejected his bail application in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case.

Apart from Ajmer Dargah blast, which claimed three lives and left 15 others injured, Aseemanand is an accused in several other blast cases across the country, including those at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and Malegaon.

He was arrested by the CBI last year from Haridwar for his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast case.