2007 Mecca Masjid blasts: Swamy Aseemanand, all other accused acquitted

A National Investigation Agency special court on Mondayacquitted five accused, including Swamy Aseemanand, in the Mecca Masjid blast case in Hyderabad.

“Evidence against the accused is not satisfactory,” the court giving its verdict said. 

On May 18, 2007, bomb blast during Friday prayers in the mosque adjacent to Hyderabad’s Charminar killed nine people and injured 58 others. The five others were killed in police firing.

The Mecca Blast case was initially investigated by the Hyderabad Police. They believed the act to be the handiwork of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed fundamentalist group Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami.

The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The National Investigation Agency on directions of the Central government took up the case and charged 10 people having alliance with various Hindu groups.

The accused were allegedly associated to a radical Hindu organisation, Abhinav Bharat.

The accused in the case were Swamy Aseemanand — a right wing Hindu ideologue, Lokesh Sharma, Rajendra Chowdhary, Tejram Parmar, Amith Chowhan and former RSS workers Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Devendra Gupta and Sunil Joshi.

Earlier, Aseemanand was acquitted in 2007 Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast and is on trial in the 2006 Malegaon blasts and the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast.

Joshi, an RSS activist from Madhya Pradesh, was murdered in December 2007.