All four accused in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast — Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary — have been acquitted by a special NIA court in Panchkula.
After its probe, the NIA had filed a charge sheet in the case in June 2011 against eight persons for their alleged roles in the terror attack.
Of the eight persons, Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary appeared before the court and faced trial.
Mastermind of the attack, Sunil Joshi, was shot dead near his home in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district in December 2007, while three other accused — Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Amit could never be apprehended and were declared proclaimed offenders.
Sixty-eight people were charred to death in the blasts in two coaches of Samjhauta Express in Panipat on February 18, 2007.
(With PTI inputs)