Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said in Hyderabad that the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case - in which an explosion killed nine people and five died in police firing - has turned "cold" as the two primary suspects are dead. "The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating the case but in police language the case has turned cold. The reason is we think that two primary suspects in that case are dead," he told reporters. "Unless we get further clues, it is not possible to take that forward but the CBI is working on that," he said when asked about progress made in the case.
Nine people were killed in a bomb blast during Friday prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid here on May 18, 2007. Five people were killed in subsequent police firing on protesters outside the mosque. Police claimed that Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the case, was killed in a shootout in Pakistan a few weeks after the mosque blast. Shahid, a native of the city, was allegedly working for Bangladesh-based terror group Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI).
Chidambaram also said investigations were nearing completion in one of the twin blast cases of August 25, 2007 and that a chargesheet would be filed soon. As many as 43 people were killed in the near-simultaneous blasts at Lumbini Park and a popular eatery Gokul Chat in the heart of Hyderabad that day. "I am told that in one of the cases, the investigations are nearing completion and a chargesheet will be filed shortly. The other one will follow thereafter," he said.