Explain leak of Aseemanand confession, court tells CBI

A Delhi court on Friday issued notice to the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Additional Superintendent of Police T R Balaji, asking him to explain how the confession of Hindutva activist Swami Aseemanand, made to a Delhi magistrate on 18 December last, was leaked to the media. 

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Sanjay Bansal deferred passing an order on an application filed by Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) functionary Devender Gupta demanding registration of a first information report (FIR) against those who leaked the confessional statement, and gave the CBI chief time till 15 February to file a report. 

Gupta, an accused in the Ajmer dargah and Mecca Masjid blasts cases and currently lodged in the Ajmer jail, moved the Tis Hazari court on the ground that the leak would prejudice his right to a fair trial and that it was an ''interference in the administration of justice.'' 

Swami Aseemanand has admitted to planning terror attacks on the Ajmer Sharif, the Mecca Masjid and the Samjhauta Express and in Malegaon. 

Gupta referred to a series of rulings by the apex court and high courts to demonstrate that the court has the requisite powers to order a probe into the leakage of Aseemanand's confession made to a magisterial court. He sought action against Balaji and Tehelka magazine's owner, publisher and editor Tarun Tejpal.