Hyderabad/New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) Counter-terror probe wing, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Monday filed murder charges against Hindutva leader Swami Aseemanand for his alleged involvement in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast that killed nine people.

 
 "The National Investigation Agency filed a supplementary chargesheet before the Hyderabad special court for NIA cases against the accused, Nabakumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, one of the main conspirators of the bomb blast in the Mecca Masjid," an official statement said.
 
 The 59-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader, who is also an accused in the 2007 Samhjauta Express train blast case, was arrested from Haridwar Nov 19, 2010 where he was found hiding under the assumed name of Swami Omkaranand.
 
 The charges filed before a special NIA court accuses him of murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy including under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substances Act.
 
 The blast in the main mosque in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007 killed nine people and injured 58.
 
 The investigation into the blast was first conducted by the state police and the case was later entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed charges against other accused, Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma, who were arrested and are in judicial custody.
 
 The NIA took over the Meccca Masjid blast case in April.
 
 Aseemanand, now in Ambala jail, in his confessional statement recorded by a magistrate in Delhi in December 2010, admitted that he and several other Hindu activists were involved in bombings at Muslim religious places because they wanted to answer every Islamist terror act with "a bomb for a bomb".
 
 Aseemanand had also confessed about the Malegaon and Ajmer shrine bombings.
 
 He, however, retracted the confessional statement, saying it had been taken under coercion. And so was his letter allegedly suggesting he wanted to turn approver.