All accused acquitted in Mecca Masjid blast

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], Apr. 16 (ANI): A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court at Nampally on Monday acquitted all accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case.

The court took the decision due to lack of evidence provided by the NIA against the accused.

The blast which took place on May 18, 2007 at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad during Friday prayers had killed eight people and left 58 injured. It was allegedly carried out by a group of right-wing terrorists.

The NIA took over the case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011, in which ten persons were named as accused.

However, only five of them namely Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar and Rajendra Chowdhary were arrested and faced trial in the case.

Two other accused- Sandeep V Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra- are absconding, while one of the accused, Sunil Joshi was allegedly murdered while the case was being investigated.

The remaining two accused are also untraceable.(ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI