All 5 accused in Makkah Masjid blast case acquitted
- by Leona Burton
- in World Media
- — Apr 16, 2018
Acquitting the accused, the special NIA court said that the prosecution failed to prove charges against them.
The pipe bomb in Mecca Masjid left eight killed and 58 others injured on May 18th 2007.
The NIA court acquitted Swami Aseemanand, and nine other accused, all of whom are members of right-wing Hindu organization Abhinav Bharat.
Hyderabad MP and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said justice was not done in the case and accused the premier investigation agency NIA of not pursuing the case properly.
People who perpetrated attack (Mecca Masjid) were protected through misuse of agency (NIA), this is what is alarming.
More news: Michael Stewart reacts on Twitter as Celtic ease past RangersThe blast ripped through the mosque during Friday prayers.
The eagerly-awaited judgment was pronounced in the jam-packed court premises where the accused persons were produced.
Accused Sunil Joshi of Madhya Pradesh, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, was murdered when the case was investigated.
The investigators have not been able to apprehend two more accused.
Of the ten, only five of them - Gupta, Sharma, Aseemanand, Rateshwar, and Chowdhary - were arrested and faced trial in the case. After initial investigations by the local police, the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which filed a chargesheet in the incident.
More news: Prime Minister promises to make Trans Mountain Pipeline happenIn March 2017, a court in Rajasthan had sentenced Devendra Gupta and others to life in jail in the Ajmer Dargah blast case.
The Hyderabad police arrested a number of Muslim men following the blast and later admitted to torturing many of them.
In all, 226 witnesses were questioned by the NIA, and 10 people were finally charged.
Speaking of the blast and how long it has been, Riyaz, who lost his father Yousuf Khan, and brother-in-law, Shafeeq-ur-Rehman said that he had followed the case thoroughly in the beginning.
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