Mecca Masjid blast case: All accused released, judge quits

     Written by : SMTV24x7 | Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 09:41 PM

Mecca Masjid blast case: All accused released, judge quits

Hyderabad, April 16: A decade after a bomb blast killed nine worshippers at the historic Mecca Masjid here, a NIA court on Monday acquitted all five Hindu activists accused. Within hours, the judge who ordered the acquittals resigned, citing "personal reasons".

While Congress and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) criticised the acquittals, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) favoured it.

Hours later, special NIA court judge K. Ravinder Reddy tendered his resignation, surprising legal and political circles. His letter was sent to the Chief Justice of the Hyderabad High Court.

Investigation by CBI in 2010 revealed that the blast was the handiwork of Hindu rightwing group Abhinav Bharat. The case was handed over to NIA on April 4, 2011. All the proofs collected by CBI were handed over to NIA.

Righwing Hindu activists Nabakumar Sarkar alias Swamy Aseemanand, Devender Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajender Chowdhary were all acquitted. Swamy Aseemanand, a resident of Gujarat and head of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, was earlier acquitted in the Ajmer Dargah blast case and is currently on bail in Samjhauta Express blast case of 2014. Devendra Gupta is the RSS pracharak from Bihar while Lokesh Sharma is a RSS activist from Madhya Pradesh.