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.

Mecca Masjid blast case: Aseemanand, others let off; top 10 developments

A special National Investigation Agency(NIA) court in Hyderabad on Monday acquitted all the accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case. The Namapally Court's judgment came in the case regarding the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast, which claimed nine lives. The fourth additional metropolitan sessions-cum-special court for NIA cases had concluded the trial and last week posted the case for judgment on April 16. The Mecca Masjid attack was allegedly carried out by a group of right-wing terrorists 11 years ago on May 18, 2007.

The accused who were acquitted on Monday are Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar, and Rajendra Chowdhary. Aseemanand, reported to have been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at one point, is an ideologue of the extremist Right-wing Hindu organisation Abhinav Bharat.

The blast, which took place during Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid, adjacent to the historic Charminar in the Old Hyderabad City, had left nine people dead and 58 injured.