Judicial custody of Mecca Masjid blast accused extended
By IANSWednesday, June 30, 2010
HYDERABAD - A city court Wednesday extended the judicial custody of one of the two accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case by 10 days.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing 2007 blast, produced Devender Gupta in the court after his CBI custody ended.
On a petition by the CBI, the 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate extended Gupta’s remand.
The accused was later shifted to Cherlapally jail on the city’s outskirts as he was reportedly facing threat to his life from some inmates in Chanchalguda jail.
The CBI brought Gupta with another accused, Lokesh Sharma, here from Ajmer June 17. The two are also accused in the blast at the Ajmer dargah in Rajasthan.
The investigators grilled Sharma during the 10-day custody to gather evidence of his involvement and of others in the blast.
The court Tuesday sent Sharma to CBI custody for 10 days. The agency moved for Sharma’s custody after he was identified by two witnesses during identification parade at the Chanchalguda jail last week.
Nine people were killed in the blast during Friday prayers at the 17th century mosque May 18, 2007. Five people died in subsequent police firing on protestors near the mosque.
Both Sharma and Gupta are members of Hindu extremist group Abhinav Bharat and are also accused in the October 2007 blast at Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi dargah in Ajmer, which claimed one life and injured 30 others.
According to the CBI, two other accused in the mosque blast are absconding.
