Hyderabad:
After the sensation caused by the reported confession of Swami Aseemanand in a string of terror attacks - including the blasts in February 2007 on the Samjhauta Express which killed 68 people on the train headed from New Delhi to Lahore - his lawyer said the CBI had pressured Aseemanand into his statement in a Delhi court in December.
Close observers of the case then referred to two letters, reported by Tehelka magazine, addressed to the Presidents of India and Pakistan. In these letters, Aseemanand allegedly admitted his crimes and sought penance, according to Tehelka.
If his confession was discarded, experts said, these letters might help prove the case against him.
But now, his lawyer, Ramachandra Rao, says the letters are not his client's. "If you go through the letter and its content... the hi-fi phrases used in the letter, which even a common man with basic English skills cannot write. He has no basic knowledge of English, how can he write this? That is why I feel these are doctored letters,'' Mr Rao said.
Tehelka magazine reported that Assemanand handed over these letters to his brother at a jail in Hyderabad. Mr Rao says he was present at that meeting and did not witness his client giving any documents to his brother.
Aseemanand was arrested in November 2010 for his alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts of 2006, the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad in May 2007, and the Ajmer Dargah blast in October 2007.
On December 18, Aseemanand is alleged to have recorded a statement before a magistrate in Delhi where he said he colluded with other right-wing Hindu activists to plan and execute the Samjhauta blasts in February 2007.