Judge who delivered Mecca Masjid blast verdict resigns

Few hours after the verdict in the Mecca Masjid blast case was pronounced, the judge who delivered the same resigned on Monday.

As per sources, Ravindra Reddy, the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge who delivered the verdict in the aforementioned case, has tendered his resignation.

Earlier in the day, a special NIA court at Nampally in Hyderabad acquitted all accused in the case due to lack of evidence provided against the latter.

The blast, which took place on May 18, 2007, at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad during Friday prayers, had killed eight people and left 58 injured, and was allegedly carried out by a group of right-wing terrorists.

The NIA had taken charge of the case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011, in which ten persons were named as accused. However, only five of them, namely Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar and Rajendra Chowdhary were arrested and faced trial in the case.

Meanwhile, two other accused- Sandeep V Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra- are absconding, while one of the accused, Sunil Joshi was allegedly murdered while the case was being investigated.