A special NIA court on 16 April has acquitted all the five accused, including a right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand in 2007 Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid bomb blast case which killed nine people and injured 50. All were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The court examined 226 witnesses during the trial and as many as 411 documents were exhibited.
The blast took place 11 years ago on 18 May, 2007 during the Friday prayers near the Charminar monument in Hyderabad.
Aseemanand’s counsel J P Sharma has said, “The prosecution failed to prove allegations against the five accused who faced trial in the case and hence the court acquitted them.”
Meanwhile, following the verdict, the police issued a high alert in Hyderabad and security is beefed up. Nearly 3,000 policemen and personnel of paramilitary forces were deployed in the old city.
DSP V Satyanarayana has said that the police would deal firmly with any attempt to disturb law and order and would also keep a close watch on the movement of people at sensitive places through CCTV cameras.
Ten persons allegedly belonging to right-wing organisations were named as accused in the bomb blast case, but only five of them were arrested and faced the trial in the same case. Two among the accused were absconding and while one another has died during the probe.
Asaduddin Owaisi, president Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, has said that justice has not been done and that it was a “malicious and biased” prosecution done by NIA
