Breaking News! Mecca Masjib blast case verdict: Special NIA court acquitts Swami Aseemanand, 4 others accused in 2007 Hyderabad explosion case
The special NIA court on Monday acquitted five accused including Swami Aseemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case in Huderabad. The special court said that the investigation agnecy had failed to prove anyone’s guilt.
The court said the country's top anti-terror body, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), had failed to prove anyone's guilt.
According to IndianExpress, the ten persons, all members of Abhinav Bharat, including Nabakumar Sirkar alias Swami Aseemanand; Devender Gupta; Lokesh Sharma alias Ajay Tiwari, Lakshman Das Maharaj, Mohanlal Rateshwar and Rajender Chowdhary were named as accused in the case. Two accused, Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, are still absconding. A key accused and RSS functionary, Sunil Joshi, was shot when the case was being investigated.
According to media reports, the investigation agency listed 226 prosecution witnesses, of which 64 turned hostile, including Lieutenant Colonel Shrikanth Purohit, who was an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Rajvardhan, a lawyer of the accused, came out of court and confirmed to the media that 5 accused had been acquitted.
All accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb-blast case that had left nine dead and seversl injured have been acquitted by a court in Hyderabad.
All accused in Mecca Masjid blast case have been acquitted by Namapally Court #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/EzHgvnlGXD
— ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2018
2007 Mecca Masjid Bomb-blast Case:
The massive bomb-blast at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, during Friday prayers, had killed nine persons and also left 58 others injured.
It was believed that the members belonging to the Hindu militant outfit Abhinav Bharat had allegedly placed two bombs in Mecca Masjid.
After the explosion immediately several peoples believed that the terror act was carried out by a group called Harkat-ul-JIhad-al-Islami with the backing of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). After which the Hyderabad police detained few Muslim youths for investigation and tortured them for days.
The police wrongly imprisoned them, later they were acquitted by the court. According to the report, the youth was blindfolded and bundled into cars before being taken to farmhouses where they were allegedly subjected to severe physical and mental torture.
According to the report, the youth were blindfolded and bundled into cars before being taken to farmhouses where they were allegedly subjected to severe physical and mental torture.
The case was later transferred to the CBI which filed a charge sheet after the local police failed to crack the crime in their initial investigation. The NIA took over the case from the CBI in 2011.
First published: 16 April 2018, 12:24 IST