New Delhi, May 29: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has decided not to appeal against the trial court’s judgment acquitting Swami Assemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case of 2007. Citing NIA sources, CNN News 18 reported that three of the 18 points in the judgement was 'tough to contest', so the agency would not challenge the Hyderabad court's verdict.

"The judgment by the trial court is sound and there is no evidence against the accused persons at all. So I am sure the judgment was read by the concerned officials and they decided not to contest it," J Sharma, lawyer of Aseemanand, told CNN-News18. Last month, all five people accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case were acquitted due to lack of direct evidence by the special court.

The special anti-terror court held that the confessional statement of the Hindu preacher to the police, which he retracted later, was not voluntary. According to NIA court, a person cannot be considered "communal or anti-social" only because of links to the RSS as it is not a banned organisation.

The court also dismissed the prosecution's claim that Aseemanand had confessed to his guilt to two inmates of a prison. The court said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which initially probed the case, had not provided any documentary evidence regarding this.

Nine persons were killed and 58 were injured in the blast that took place in at the Mecca Masjid which is adjacent to the historic Charminar in the Old City in Hyderabad during Friday prayers on May 18, 2007. The NIA had taken over the case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011. Ten persons allegedly belonging to right-wing organisations were named as accused.

However, only five accused - 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 still absconding, while accused Sunil Joshi died. However, the investigations were going on against two other accused.

Swami Aseemanand was arrested on November 19, 2010, from Haridwar in connection with the blast. He was granted conditional bail in 2017

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 11:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).