Mecca Masjid verdict: 'There's no way in which centre can pressurise a sessions judge,' says MHA ex-Under Secretary

"If he's saying he has resigned for personal reasons, we must respect that," Mani added.

Image: RVS Mani, MHA former Under Secretary / ANI

New Delhi: Commenting on the resignation of K Ravinder Reddy, the special judge for NIA cases, RVS Mani, MHA former Under Secretary said, "Special NIA judges aren't selected by centre. There's no way in which centre can pressurise a sessions judge." "If he's saying he has resigned for personal reasons, we must respect that," Mani added, reported ANI. A special anti-terror court on Monday acquitted Hindutva preacher Swami Aseemanand and four others in the 11-year-old Mecca Masjid blast case. Shortly afterwards the judge Reddy resigned. The special judge, tendered his resignation, citing "personal" reasons barely hours after pronouncing the judgement. He held that the prosecution failed to prove "even a single allegation" against the five accused. It is worth mentioning here that eleven years after a powerful explosion killed nine people and injured over 50 during Friday prayers near the iconic Charminar, court acquitted all five accused-Nabakumar Sarkar alias Swamy Aseemanand, Devender Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajender Chowdhary. On May 18, 2007, the explosion ripped through the mosque and two live IEDs were also recovered by police and defused. There were a total of eight accused in the case. One, Sunil Joshi, a RSS pracharak, was murdered during the course of the investigation. Two other accused, Sandeep V. Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra, both RSS activists, still elude the investigators. Monday's judgement was about five accused who were charge-sheeted by NIA, reported news agency IANS. The sensational case took many twists and turns. A total of three charge sheets were filed by the CBI and the NIA. The city police, which initially took up investigation, blamed Harkatul Jihad Islami and rounded up about 100 Muslim youths. All those arrested and jailed were acquitted in 2008 and the subsequent investigations by the 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, news agency reported.