Assemanand’s confession not voluntary: NIA court

Hyderabad: Special NIA Judge Ravinder Reddy, who acquitted Swami Aseemanand and four others in the Mecca Masjid blast verdict, had dismissed Aseemanand’s confessional statement recorded in police custody as “non-voluntary”.

A remote-controlled blast had taken place in Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007. The incident left nine individuals dead and over 38 injured. This blast took place on a Friday when the 400-year-old mosque was buzzing with activity.

In his 140-page verdict, delivered on April 15, Judge Reddy questioned the veracity of Aseemanand’s confessional statement. “There is no proper explanation as to why the investigating officer was rushing to move an application before the chief judicial magistrate in New Delhi with the request to record the confessional statement of Aseemanand. He had ample opportunity to come down to Hyderabad and after expiry of the police custody of Aseemanand, he could have moved an application before the jurisdictional court,” the court has noted.

Later, the court reasoned this by stating that Aseemanand had retracted the statement and that the confession was hit by Section 26 of the Indian Evidence Act. “This court holds that the confessional statement of Aseemanand is hit by section 26 of the Indian Evidence Act. This court holds that the confessional statement of Aseemanand was not a voluntary one which was recorded during the course of police custody. The statement was also retracted by the accused four months later,” said Judge Reddy, while ordering the acquittal for Swami Aseemanand.