Hyderabad: Out of the 76 witnesses examined so far during the trial in the Macca Masjid bomb blast case in the NIA special court at Nampally, no one has identified or spoken against the accused, including Lokesh Sharma (who is also facing trial in the Malegaon blast case).
Only five of the seven accused in the Macca Masjid blast case are being tried as one of them is absconding and the other is in a jail outside the state in another case. NIA has alleged that the accused conspired to carry out bomb blasts in minority religious places to avenge jihadi attacks.
Defence advocate for the accused and BJP MLC N. Ramachandar Rao said, “We have been arguing that there is no evidence to link the accused to the blasts. NIA’s views in the Malegaon blast case has strengthened our case.
None of the witnesses have spoken against the accused. far. Three agencies — police, CID and CBI — probed the case before NIA chargesheeted in Mecca Masjid blast case. The Malegaon blast case was handled by Maharashtra ATS before NIA took up the case.”
Of the accused, one died and three are absconding. The chargesheet was filed on December 13, 2010 by CBI against two accused. NIA filed a first supplementary chargesheet on May 17 in 2011 against one more accused and a second supplementary chargesheet on July 16, 2012 against two more accused against whom a chargesheet had already filed by the CBI.
A third supplementary chargesheet was filed on August 28 in 2013. On February 13, 2014 the NIA court framed charges. The only major recovery was an unexploded IED from the blast site.
