Question Hour: Supreme Court acquits Aseemanand, four others in Mecca Masjid blast case

Question Hour: A special NIA court acquitted Swami Aseemanand, right-wing Hindu ideologue, and four others in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, holding that the prosecution failed to prove "even a single allegation" against them, lawyers said. "Prosecution (NIA) could not prove even a single allegation against any of the accused and all of them stand acquitted," J P Sharma, the counsel for Assemanand, told reporters quoting special judge for NIA cases K Ravinder Reddy who delivered the verdict amid tight security. A powerful blast, triggered by remote control, had ripped through the mosque during an assembly of devotees on May 18, 2007 in Hyderabad, killing nine people and wounding 58. The accused were Swamy Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Rajendra Chowdhary, Tejram Parmar, Amith Chowhan and former RSS workers Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Devendra Gupta and Sunil Joshi.