<p class="title">Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday raised questions on the functioning of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after a court acquitted right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case investigated by the central agency.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It (acquittal) is happening in each case since the government was formed four years ago...people are losing faith in the agencies," he told news channels.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A special anti-terror court acquitted the five men in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove charges against them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A massive blast had ripped through the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, during Friday prayers, killing nine people and wounding 58.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When asked about the verdict, former Union home minister and Congress leader Shivraj Patil said, "I find it very difficult to say whether this is wrong or correct".</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said he was not aware of the nature of charge-sheet filed by the probe agency, statements made by the witnesses and the cross-examination done by the prosecution.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The case was initially probed by the local police before being transferred to the CBI, and finally in 2011 to the NIA, the country's premier anti-terror investigation agency.</p>
<p class="title">Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday raised questions on the functioning of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after a court acquitted right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case investigated by the central agency.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It (acquittal) is happening in each case since the government was formed four years ago...people are losing faith in the agencies," he told news channels.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A special anti-terror court acquitted the five men in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove charges against them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A massive blast had ripped through the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, during Friday prayers, killing nine people and wounding 58.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When asked about the verdict, former Union home minister and Congress leader Shivraj Patil said, "I find it very difficult to say whether this is wrong or correct".</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said he was not aware of the nature of charge-sheet filed by the probe agency, statements made by the witnesses and the cross-examination done by the prosecution.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The case was initially probed by the local police before being transferred to the CBI, and finally in 2011 to the NIA, the country's premier anti-terror investigation agency.</p>