Mecca Masjid blast case judge's resignation rejected: Top 10 developments

The Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court on Thursday rejected the resignation tendered by special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Ravinder Reddy, who delivered the Mecca Masjid blast case verdict. Judge Reddy has been asked to attend to his duties immediately. The NIA court of Reddy had on Monday acquitted all the five Hindu activists accused in the decade-old bomb blast that killed nine worshippers at Hyderabad's historic Mecca Masjid. The accused included Nabakumar Sarkar alias Swamy Aseemanand. Within hours, Reddy, who ordered the acquittals, resigned, citing "personal reasons".

Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi lashed out at the NIA over the acquittal of the five accused in the Mecca blast case. Addressing a rally in Hyderabad, Owaisi said that the investigation agency had turned deaf and blind. Further, he assured to provide legal help to the family of the victims.

Accusing the Congress party of indulging in vote bank politics, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Wednesday asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise to Hindus for labelling them as terrorists. "In pursuit of vote bank politics, the Congress popularised 'Hindu Terror' and tried to implicate some Hindu activists in the Meccas Masjid blast case in Hyderabad over a decade ago, though a NIA court acquitted them," said Shah at an event in Bengaluru.