Mecca Masjid blast: AP CM assures CBI probe

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Monday assured the United Muslim Action Committee that the state government was ready for a CBI enquiry but only after the preliminary enquiry was completed.

He told the delegation that 'the guilty will not be spared as far as Mecca Masjid blast was concerned.' The delegation met him and submitted a memorandum demanding CBI inquiry into the blast and the police firing.

The chief minister assured the delegation that stern action will be taken against the guilty and no one will be spared. However, prima facie case against the guilty (police officials) should be established.

He recalled that he had already made the announcement of the state government's readiness for CBI enquiry at the Mecca Masjid itself when he had gone there with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil a day after the blast. 

Dr Reddy reiterating that ex-gratia on par with the blast victims would be paid to the kith and kin of the victims of police firing. He said all those injured in the blast and firing could be treated at any hospital, including corporate hospital, at the government expense.

The injured would also be paid Rs. 20,000 as ex-gratia.

The delegation demanded suspension of the police officers who ordered or took part in the firing after the blast at Mecca Masjid on May 18. The delegation also demanded enquiry to find out who were the police officers who fed some TV channels stories on the hand of Lashkar or Jaish or HUJI and of Hyderabad being a refuge and breeding place of terrorists, even before the investigations began.

The United Muslim Action Committee also demanded ex-gratia on par to be sanctioned to the next of the kin of those who lost their lives in the police firing and ex-gratia to the injured in the firing.