New Delhi:
National Investigation Agency (NIA) special judge Ravindra Reddy resigned soon after delivering the verdict on the Mecca Masjid blast case on Monday.
The resignation came hours after giving the judgment in the 2007 Hyderabad blast case. Reddy has submitted his resignation to the Chief Justice of Hyderabad High Court, according to reports.
Earlier in the day, Reddy had acquitted all the five accused in the case, including right-wing Hindu ideologue Swami Aseemanand, saying that the evidence given against the accused was not satisfactory. The judge, while pronouncing the verdict, said, “Evidence against the accused is not satisfactory.”
The Mecca Masjid blast case pertains to the bomb blast at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007, during the time of Friday prayers. The blast killed nine people and injured 58 others. Five of the nine were killed in police firing.
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The case, which was initially investigated by the Hyderabad Police was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), charged 10 people as accused. Some of the accused belonged to radical Hindu organisation Abhinav Bharat.
The accused in the case were Swamy Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Rajendra Chowdhary, Tejram Parmar, Amith Chowhan and former RSS workers Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Devendra Gupta and Sunil Joshi.
Earlier, Aseemanand was acquitted in 2007 Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast and is on trial in the 2006 Malegaon blasts and the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast.
