HYDERABAD: Eleven years after a bomb ripped through Mecca mosque killing nine namazis, the NIA special court acquitted all five accused in a much-awaited verdict at a packed courtroom in Nampally on Monday. Now, the 2007 bombing remains a terror mystery with two premier agencies, CBI and NIA failing to gather evidence to nail the accused.Around 11.30am, the operative portion of the judgment was read out by fourth metropolitan sessions judge, Ravinder Reddy, declaring acquittal of all five accused — head of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram Swami Aseemanand, RSS vibagh pracharak Devendra Gupta, RSS karyakarta Lokesh Sharma, member of Hindu Vichar Manch, Bharath Mohanlal Rateshwar and Rajendar Chowdary, a farmer. On May 18, 2007, nine namazis died in the blast and another five killed in police firing after violence erupted.The judge said he had carefully examined documents, material evidence placed on record and declared none of the allegations could be proved against any of the accused. “Hence, all five accused stand acquitted,’’ the judge said. Immediately after the acquittal, the verdict evoked mixed reaction. Ten people were made accused in the case by NIA and five persons underwent trial while other accused, Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangara and Amit Chouhan are on the run while key accused Sunil Joshi was murdered. The chargesheet is yet to be filed by NIA against one accused, Tejaram, who is out on bail.“The prosecution could not prove a single allegation against my clients. They had no evidence. The whole case was pivoted around the confession of Aseemanand before a judge in 2010,’’ Aseemanand’s advocate, JP Sharma, told reporters. Aseemanand is already acquitted in Ajmer dargah blast case in 2017 while Devendra Gupta was convicted.J Venugopal, defence counsel of Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma, alleged fake call data records (CDR) were produced as evidence by National Investigation Agency (NIA). “Since the time CBI took up the case, my clients were implicated without proof,” Venugopal told TOI.There was unprecedented security cover at the Nampally criminal court. No vehicle parking was allowed 500m near the court. Restrictions were in force for entry into the court complex and media personnel too were barred.Minutes after the verdict, key accused Aseemanand and Bharath Rateshwar left the court amid high security in a police escort. They were swiftly taken to RGI airport, from where they took a flight to an undisclosed destination.This judgment comes as a big setback to NIA, a specialised agency to deal with terror cases and has been dealing with Mecca masjid blast since its inception.