Mecca Masjid is one of the City of Pearl's major landmarks.
The Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad opened a new chapter in terrorism. Terror groups such as the Lashkar e Toiba and Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami declared that this was just the beginning of a series of attacks.
The Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee may have filed it report on the police firing that killed nine persons following the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad, but Vicky Nanjappa feels the matter appears to have gone in to cold storage.
Police teams from both Rajasthan and Hyderabad confirmed on Saturday that the same operatives carried out both the Mecca Masjid and the Hyderabad blasts. The link has been established in the form of a sim card, found in one of the bags outside the blast site, which is reportedly in the name of one Babu Lal Yadav. A sim card found at the blast site in Mecca Masjid was also in the name of Babu Lal Yadav.
The blast occurred when thousands were offering their Friday afternoon prayers.
On March 8 this year, Aseemanand and six others were acquitted in the 2007 Ajmer blast case by a court in Jaipur.
Some media reports have speculated on a possible link between Malegaon blast accused Lt Colonel Srikant Purohit and the Mecca Masjid blasts. However, the Hyderabad police maintain that they have not found any links so far. They say Purohit's remand application before the Nashik court makes no mention of the Mecca Masjid blasts.
Andhra Pradesh has released Rs 70 lakh for innocent Muslim youths arrested and tortured in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. But the minority community continues to be miffed for the compensation comes from the Mecca Masjid kitty and not the chief minister's funds. Vicky Nanjappa reports
For the first time a serving army officer was accused of terrorism.
Authorities of Hyderabad's Chanchalguda Central Jail have expressed their inability to provide necessary protection to two members of Hindu militant organisation.
Two persons including a Hyderabadi woman has been arrested in the Mecca Masjid blasts case, police said on Friday.
At least 50 suspects were picked up from Hyderabad city alone for allegedly carrying out both Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts. All of them have been acquitted by the court and they currently are seeking an apology coupled with compensation from the Hyderabad police.
May 18, 2011 makes it four years since a blast at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid claimed 14 lives. However, there has been no breakthrough in case with the investigation going on at a snail's pace. Lateed Mohammad Khan, convenor of the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee that has been fighting the case of the Muslim youth who were falsely implicated in the blast, says that the Hyderabad police protected Hindu radicals behind the bombing. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The case has seen several twists and turns. The needle of suspicion was first cast on Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihadi terrorist Shahid Bilal -- accused of trying to create communal tension in Hyderabad. The probe was then divided. While the bombing is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the incident relating to police firing is being looked into by the Hyderabad police.
Twenty-five-year old, who lost a leg in the 2007 attack, suffered severe spine injuries in Wednesday's blast that ripped through Hyderabad's Dilsukh Nagar. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Muslim community in Hyderabad are enthused by the Central Bureau of Investigation's statement which said that both the Ajmer and the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blasts were interlinked.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday began interrogation of Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, after taking him into their custody from Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad, official sources said.
A chargesheet was filed on Monday against right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand by the National Investigation Agency for his alleged role in the conspiracy behind the 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts that left nine people dead.
All the accused were acquitted on Wednesday by the seventh additional metropolitan sessions judge for lack of evidence.
A special CBI court in Hyderabad on Monday remanded Devender Gupta, a prime suspect in Mecca Masjid bomb blast case to the CBI custody till June 30 for questioning.
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
An investigating officer said that the cell-phone and remote control device recovered on Sunday would help police investigations by providing vital clues about the persons/organisations behind the blast.
A city court in Hyderabad on Friday granted bail to Bharath Mohanlal Rateswar alias Bharat Bhai, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, however, his remand will continue in connection with the Ajmer blast case.
A Hyderabad court on Wednesday sent Devender Gupta, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast, to 14-day judicial custody.
After getting custody of Devender Gupta, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed a petition before a local court seeking custodial interrogation of another accused Lokesh Sharma. Gupta and Sharma were brought to Hyderabad by CBI from Ajmer on June 17, as part of further investigation into the blast that had left nine persons dead on May 18, 2007.
Even as the process of brining the two accused of Ajmer Dargah blast to Hyderabad for questioning in the Mecca Masjid blast case was continuing, the Central Bureau of Investigation has made some more headway in the three-year-old blast case.
Almost three-year-old murder case of an RSS activist Sunil Joshi in Madhya Pradesh has caught the attention of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as part of its investigations in to Mecca Masjid blast case.
The hopes of Lokesh Sharma and Devender Gupta, the two Abhinav Bharat activists accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case in Hyderabad, of coming out of jail have shattered as the Andhra Pradesh high court has rejected their bail petition.
The Hyderabad police has detained six local youth who were earlier arrested in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast of 2007 but acquitted by the courts.
More than four years after they were "falsely implicated" in criminal cases in the aftermath of the bomb blast in Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, 70 Muslim youth will now get a sum of Rs 70 lakh from the Andhra Pradesh government as "compensation" in line with the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities.
The confessions of Swami Aseemanand may have brought a certain about of clarity in the Malegaon and the Samjhauta Express blasts cases, but the Mecca Masjid blast case remains far from being solved, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
The long-pending investigations into the three-year-old Mecca Masjid blast case on Thursday moved forward with the Central Bureau of Investigation producing two suspects RSS pracharak Devender Gupta and his accomplice Lokesh Sharma in a special CBI court in Hyderabad.
After their acquittal, the people demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident. After lot of deliberations, the case was finally handed over to the CBI. It was decided that the FIR pertaining to the exploded bomb would be handled by the CBI and the other FIR would be probed by the Hyderabad police.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has added the name of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist Sunil Joshi to the list of accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case. Joshi, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, was shot dead by three unknown assailants on December 29, 2007, months after the blasts in Hyderabad and Ajmer.The CBI moved a petition in the 14th additional chief metropolitan magistrate's court in Hyderabad on Tuesday, seeking the addition of Joshi's name.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts that claimed 15 lives, may be close to cracking the case.
Hindutva preacher Swami Aseemanand and four others were acquitted in the Mecca Masjid blast with the judge saying that the prosecution failed to prove "even a single allegation" against them.
May 18 marks five years since the blast at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid. However, there has been no breakthrough in case with the investigation going on at a snail's pace. Lateef Mohammad Khan, convenor of the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, which has been fighting the case of the Muslim youth who were falsely implicated in the blast, says that the police is trying to pin the blame on two sects of the community while shielding the real culprits. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
On Friday, the government handed over Rs 3 lakh compensation to 16 youngsters who were wrongly implicated in the Mecca Masjid blast. But the Muslim community from Hyderabad is still miffed. According to them, the biggest compensation would be to punish the police officials who tortured the innocent youths. Moreover, they also claim that around 80 youths who deserve the compensation have been left out by the government.
NIA claims that they have evidence to show that Swami Aseemanand handed over money to execute the blast. However, there have been no breakthroughs in finding the money trail. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
There is an air of shock and dismay Dr Ibrahim Junaid's home, ever since the Andhra Pradesh high court ordered the state government to recover Rs 3 lakh paid to him as compensation after he was falsely implicated in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts.