Hyderabad: Mecca Masjid
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
The mosque
From: April 17, 2018: The Times of India
See graphic:
1616- 2018: a brief history
The Mecca Masjid blast case, 2007
A timeline
April 17, 2018: The Times of India’'
From: April 17, 2018: The Times of India
Twenty months after it took over the Mecca Masjid blast case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed to have made two key arrests from Madhya Pradesh in December 2012.
The NIA had nabbed Rajendhar Chowdary, a 35-yearold farmer, and Tejram Parmar, a 31-year-old mason, for allegedly planting bombs at the historic mosque on May 18, 2007. Later, the NIA did not even include Parmar’s name in the chargesheet and Rajendhar was acquitted, bringing the terror narrative — that started as a cross-border Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) conspiracy and ended as a domestic Hindutva terror plot — back to square one.
After the blasts, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Hyderabad police launched a probe and arrested several persons suspected to be HuJI operatives.
Five suspects, including an MBA student, were even sent to Bengaluru and subjected to narco analysis at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, where they allegedly confessed to have carried out the terror strike with RDX supplied by their associates from Bangladesh.
Subsequently, the Mecca Masjid blast case was handed over to the CBI and two cases were registered by it in June and October, 2007.
When the CBI arrested Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma and Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Aseemanand in 2010, who were also accused in the Ajmer Dargah blast case, the terror narrative took a new turn from HuJI to Hindutva.
Almost four years after the CBI started its probe into the case and filed a chargesheet accusing persons affiliated to various Hindu religious outfits of having planned and executed the blasts to avenge terror strikes on temples, the probe was handed over to the NIA in April 2011.
The NIA continued the line of investigation pursued by the CBI and arrested three more persons, including the alleged bomb planters — Rajendhar and Tejram — along with a textile businessman from Gujarat, Bharat Bhai. With the special court acquitting all the five accused, defence counsel claimed that the case was politically motivated and evidence was fabricated, while some victims rightly said that “justice delayed is justice denied”.
Who bombed Mecca Masjid?
U Sudhakar Reddy, April 16, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
The shoddy investigation by CBI and later failure of NIA to produce evidence has resulted in the acquittals.
Despite 226 witnesses cited, except official witnesses, none of the witnesses supported the prosecution.
“Bomb Ka Jawab Bomb Se Dena Hai” this is what was widely quoted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in all the chargesheets filed against the accused in Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, but after their acquittal by the court, the question now remains ‘Who bombed Mecca Masjid?’
The shoddy investigation, initially by Hussaini Alam Police of Hyderabad in first two months, followed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and later failure of the NIA to produce evidence, has resulted in the acquittal of the accused in a case that had already been messed up.
Initially, Bangladesh-based Harkat Ul Jihad Al Islami (HUJI) was suspected for the blasts and local youth were picked up and later after the CBI took over, it arrested the accused belonging to R-S-S and Hindu Vichar Manch. NIA had taken the names of R-S-S and Hindu Vichar Manch in the chargesheets.
Despite 226 witnesses cited, except official witnesses, none of the witnesses supported the prosecution.
NIA alleged that Swamy Assemananda in the confession said 'Bomb Ka Jawab Bomb Se Dena Hai' during his meeting with other accused, but the court didn’t find merit in this. The prosecution relied on bomb comparison of both Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts. However, in 2017 April, Jaipur court acquitted Swamy Aseemananda and six others in a case connected to Ajmer Dargah blast case. Investigation in both cases failed to establish conspiracy link between the accused.
Shafeeq Rehman Mahajir, a senior advocate who argued before Bhaskar Rao Commission in the case and who is defending those who were tortured by police initially, told TOI, "Swamy Aseemananda gave confessional statement voluntarily under 164 CrPC before the magistrate initially and retracted. NIA and CBI are expected to be the premier agencies, but both of them pointed fingers at each other in the probe which is a sad state of affairs. The agencies produced shoddy evidences. The cases were badly handled by the investigation agencies in such a manner that they ended up in acquittal. Justice is defeated and the rule of law is mocked at. The court may have relied on lack of evidence and acquitted the accused.” He added the police tried to implicate innocent Muslim youth initially in the case.
Senior advocate and BJP Member of Legislative Council N Ramchander Rao, who initially represented the accused in the court, told TOI, "Now it is proved that UPA government tried to defame Sangh parivar by misusing the CBI for political gains. Local police who initially investigated the case did narco-analysis in which the suspect admitted the crime. CBI failed to investigate that angle. He added, ”During cross-examination, CBI SP Rajbalaji admitted that he did not examine or investigate the confession made before regarding narco-analysis test. No conspiracy links established. No witness supported the case of production except the official.”
Aseemanand
April 16, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Swami Aseemanand, acquitted today in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, is a man of several names but committed to one shade of saffron.
Swami Aseemanand stepped into the national spotlight in 2010 when he was arrested by the CBI for his alleged role in the blast in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007
Naba Kumar Sarkar, Jatin Chatterjee, Omkarnath. What's in a name?
Swami Aseemanand, acquitted today in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, is a man of several names but committed to one shade of saffron.
Born Naba Kumar Sarkar in Kamaarpukar village in West Bengal's Hooghly district, Swami Aseemanand, as he came to be popularly known, stepped into the national spotlight in 2010 when he was arrested by the CBI for his alleged role in the blast in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007.
Nine people were killed and 58 wounded when a powerful explosion ripped through the mosque complex during Friday prayers.
The 66-year-old saffron-clad self confessed monk was subsequently named as an accused in two other terror incidents the same year — the October 11, 2007 blast in Ajmer's famed Khwaja Chishti shrine in which three people were killed and the bombing of the Samjhauta Express on the intervening night of February 17-18, 2007, in which 68 people lost their lives.
Today's acquittal, on grounds of lack of evidence, is his second. In March last year, he was absolved by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in the Ajmer blast case.
As the bespectacled, grey-haired Aseemanand walked free today, the only cloud in his horizon is the pending Samjhauta trial, which shows little sign of resuming with witnesses from Pakistan refusing to come to India to testify, an official said.
The story of the man who grew out of his humble beginnings began somewhere in the 1970s. He had completed his graduation in science in in 1971, but his interests lay elsewhere as well and he became involved with rightwing groups from school, going on to work full time with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Purulia and Bankura districts in the state.
It was at the Ashram that Naba Kumar Sarkar was christened Swami Aseemanand in 1981, investigators said.
The fiery speaker soon became known for his anti-minority speeches and his relentless campaign against Christian missionaries, getting invited to speak in various places across the country.
In the late 1990s, he settled down in Gujarat's Dangs district where he started a tribal welfare organisation called Shabri Dham, a Hindu rightwing organisation.
According to a confessional statement given to a judge in 2010, Aseemanand said he was famous for his anti-minority statements. In 2002, things changed after the killing of 30 devotees at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar by terrorist suicide bombers and he wanted to avenge the deaths, he said.
He spoke of his association with others accused in terror-related cases but retracted the statement later. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) did not press perjury charges against him.
The rightwing preacher, investigating officials said, had also given a graphic account of his involvement in two other cases of terrorism in Maharashtra's Malegaon town -- on September 8, 2006, when 37 people were killed and on September 29, 2008, when six people were killed.
"However, he was not named as an accused because the investigation is still going on," an official said.
Three years after his alleged involvement in the series of three explosions, the CBI arrested Aseemanand on November 20, 2010 from an ashram in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. He had been staying there for weeks with forged identification papers, using the assumed names of Jatin Chatterjee and Omkarnath.
Sleuths who arrested him found a passport issued by the RPO Kolkata, a ration card and an election card issued by the Haridwar authorities.
He was put behind bars for his alleged role in the three cases. In 2014, he was granted bail in the Samjhauta case but continued to be in Ambala prison. In March 2017, the month he was acquitted in the Ajmer bombing case, he also got bail for the Mecca Masjid case.
He has also spoken of his association with other accused in terror-related cases but retracted the statement later. The NIA did not press perjury charges against him.
The verdict/ 2018
All Accused Acquitted
Srinath Vudali, Mecca Masjid Accused Acquitted, April 17, 2018: The Times of India’'
The 2018 verdict
From: Srinath Vudali, Mecca Masjid Accused Acquitted, April 17, 2018: The Times of India
Verdict Triggers Row Between BJP & Congress
Eleven years after a bomb ripped through Mecca Masjid, killing nine people, the NIA special court acquitted all five accused in a much-awaited verdict in a packed courtroom on Monday. Now, the 2007 bombing remains a terror mystery with two premier agencies, the Central
Bureau of Investigation and the National Investigation Agency, failing to gather evidence to nail the accused.
Around 11.30am, the operative portion of the judgment was read out by the fourth metropolitan sessions judge, K Ravinder Reddy, declaring acquittal of all five accused —Swami Aseemanand, head of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, R-S-S vibagh pracharak Devendra Gupta, R-S-S karyakarta Lokesh Sharma, Hindu Vichar Manch member Bharath Mohanlal Rateshwar and Rajendar Chowdhary, a farmer. Nine people died in the May 18, 2007 blast and another five were killed in police firing after violence erupted.
The judge said he had carefully examined documents and material evidence placed on record and declared none of the allegations could be proved against any of the accused. “Hence, all five accused stand acquitted,’’ the judge said. While BJP said Congress’ defamation of Hindus through false narratives about “saffron terror” to serve political goals had been exposed, Congress said its party functionaries never used the phrase “saffron terror”.
How the prosecution’s case crumbled
The ‘shoddy’ investigation carried out by the three investigative agencies that probed the Mecca Masjid blast conclusively led to the prosecution’s case collapsing like a pack of cards and acquittal of all accused, insiders say. With the result that even 11 years after the incident, there is no clarity as to who actually carried them out.
The case was probed by the Hussaini Alam police for the first two months. Police pointed the finger of suspicion on Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami and rounded up a few local youths on the charge that they triggered the blasts.
The CBI then took over the case and, in the first chargesheet, named a few persons belonging to R-S-S and Hindu Vichar Manch, including Aseemanand of Chhattisgarh-based NGO Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, as accused. The case was then taken over by the NIA from the CBI in 2011 and over the next three years, the NIA filed three supplementary chargesheets.
“The witnesses produced by the prosecution and the testimony of Assemanand and his retraction later doomed the case for the state in the Mecca Masjid Case,” top investigative sources told TOI.
Out of the 226 witnesses cited by the NIA to prove its case, only 66 of them were crucial whose statements were capable of showing serious bearing on the result of the case. All the remaining witnesses were either doctors who conducted the post-mortem on the deceased in the blasts and police firing, or probe officials who attended panchnama, etc.
However, even the 66 witnesses turned hostile and rendered the NIA helpless. The majority of these witnesses belonged to places like Jharkhand and Indore from where many accused in the case hailed from. “These witnesses were teachers and small traders who said they knew the accused and their plans. But with their disinclination to sail with the prosecution midway, the balance was titled in favour of the accused,” said the sources. Added to the key witnesses turning hostile was the confession fiasco of Aseemanand, key accused in the case.
He had deposed before a Delhi magistrate in 2010 stating that he had carried out the blast as he was upset over the attacks on temples that targeted Hindus. Further, Asseemand told the magistrate that since the Nizam of Hyderabad opted to merge with Pakistan at the time of independence, he chose Hyderabad as the target in order to “punish” the city for siding with Pakistan. Aseemanand’s statement was recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC by the Delhi judge.
However, in 2011, Aseemananda wrote a letter to a Hyderabad court judge retracting the statement he made before the Delhi judge. “I made the statement confessing to my involvement in the Mecca Masjid case owing to pressure from CBI,” he said. The sources told TOI that the NIA judge who delivered the verdict on Monday completely disregarded the statement made by Aseemanand before the Delhi judge. “This, coupled with the witnesses turning hostile, led to the prosecution’s case collapsing like a pack of cards,” they said.
There were other issues too. The prosecution relied on the statement of an alleged jail mate of Aseemanand who claimed that the latter confided in him about the conspiracy behind the Mecca Masjid blast. But the NIA could not even show proof that this witness was in jail along with Aseemanand.
Judge resigns after the verdict
April 16, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Earlier today, all the five accused in the blast case, including Swami Aseemanand were acquitted due to lack of evidence
A powerful blast had ripped through the over four-century-old mosque on May 18, 2007
Altogether, 10 persons owing allegiance to right-wing organisations were named accused in the case
Special NIA judge K Ravinder Reddy, who acquitted Swami Aseemanand and four others in the 11-year-old Mecca Masjid blast case, tendered his resignation, citing "personal" reasons.
Reddy said his resignation had nothing to do with today's judgement, according to a senior judicial officer, who did not want to be named.
"He has sent the resignation letter to Metropolitan Sessions Judge (MSJ)... he has cited personal grounds and it has nothing to do with today's verdict in the Mecca Masjid blast case," the senior judicial officer told PTI.
Reddy had apparently taken the decision to resign sometimes back itself, the officer said.
Earlier today, all the five accused in the Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid blast case, including Swami Aseemanand were acquitted due to lack of clinching evidence.
The president of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi called the resignation "Intriguing" and tweeted:
"Judge who gave acquittal to all accused in Mecca Masjid Blast RESIGNS very intriguing and I am surprised with the Lordship decision."
“The judge in his order observed that not a single allegation levelled by the prosecution could be proved, and hence he declared all the accused acquitted,” said JP Sharma, the defence advocate.
A powerful blast, triggered by remote control, had ripped through the over four-century-old mosque here on May 18, 2007, when devotees had gathered for Friday prayers, killing nine people and wounding 58.
The case was initially probed by the local police before being transferred to the CBI, and finally in 2011 to the NIA, the country's premier anti-terror investigation agency.
Altogether, 10 persons owing allegiance to right-wing organisations were named accused in the case.
But only five of them, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, Devendra Gupta, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajendra Chowdhary were arrested in the case.
Sandeep V Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra, two other accused are absconding, while another accused Sunil Joshi died.
The NIA examined a total of 226 witnesses during the trial and as 411 documents were exhibited.
Swami Aseemanand and Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar were out on bail while three others were lodged in jail. In March 2017, a Rajasthan court had sentenced Gupta and another convict to life imprisonment in the Ajmer dargah blast case.
