New Delhi, July 29: With no breakthrough in the over three-year-old Samjautha Express blast case, the Government has decided to handover its probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to unravel the conspiracy.
"The Samjhauta blast case has been handed over to the NIA," Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry Utthan Kumar Bansal told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Sixty-eight people were killed when bombs were set off in two coaches of cross-country Samjhauta Express, running between Delhi and Lahore, around midnight on February 18, 2007 at Diwana near Panipat, 80 kilometres north of Delhi.
The case was being handled by Haryana Police which had failed to make any headway after its probe led to a tailor at Indore who had prepared the cover for the suitcase in which the bombs were planted.
Investigators probing Samjhauta Express blast case have reportedly gathered evidence that points to a finger of suspicion at a Hindu right wing extremist organisation.
They have been claiming that there was a link between the Ajmer blast in Rajasthan and Mecca Masjid blast in Andhra Pradesh's capital Hyderabad. PTI
Native village remembers
Rafi on death anniversary
Chandigarh, July 29: Legendary playback singer Muhammad Rafi's friend 93-year-old Bakshish Singh still remembers the days spent together with the singing hero.
"We went to village primary school together at Kotla Sultan. He was my best friend and since his early days used to treat us with his melodious voice," Singh told PTI.
Singh and Rafi were born in Kotla Sultan village, about 30 km from Amritsar in Punjab and about 250km from here.
Born on December 24, 1924, Rafi died on July 31, 1980. He lent his voice to Bollywood's megastars including Amitabh Bachchan, Shammi Kapoor, Dharamendra and Dev Anand. He has numerous hit songs to his credit including several duets with famous playback singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Bakshish, who spent his childhood with the singer, said that Rafi was a simple man who used to talk straight from his heart and used to help everyone in need.
"He house was next to ours and that's how our friendship grew. We used to play together and take out our domestic animals together to collect fodder," he said.
Bakshish Singh's son Santokh Singh Samra who is the head of Kotla Sultan said that the village is trying to do its own bit to keep the memory of the singer alive. They are organising a singing competition to remember the legend on his 30th death anniversary this Saturday.
"We started a computer training centre at the village named after Rafi. The school gate and the road leading to the village was also named after him. Now, we have left out an acre of land, which we intend to convert into a park named after him. We will also have his statue inside the park when it comes up," he said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST