Report on police firing after Mecca Masjid blast submitted

HYDERABAD - The Justice Bhaskar Rao Commission submitted to the Andhra Pradesh government here Saturday its report on the police firing after a bomb blast at the historic Mecca Masjid in 2007.

Justice V. Bhaskar Rao met Chief Minister K. Rosaiah at his camp office here and handed over the report.

The contents of the report and the commission’s recommendations have not been made public.

The one-member commission of inquiry was appointed by the state government July 2, 2007. Justice V. Bhaskara Rao, retired judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, was asked to inquire into the incident that led to opening of fire by police May 18 at a mob near the 17th century mosque in which five people were killed and scores were injured.

The incident took place a couple of hours after a bomb blast during Friday prayers that claimed nine lives at Mecca Masjid near the historic Charminar.

The commission was appointed following allegations by Muslim organisations that the firing was “unprovoked”.

Initially the police had blamed Bangladesh-based Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (Huji) for the blast and also picked up some local Muslim youths, who were later acquitted by the courts.

The investigations into the blast by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took a new turn May this year when it found that Hindu extremist outfits involved in Ajmer dargah blast were also behind the Mecca Masjid blast.