Hyderabad, April 19: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana today rejected the resignation of NIA special court judge Ravinder Reddy. In its order, the High court has asked Reddy to attend to his duties immediately. As per the report, the resignation has been rejected for not serving three months notice period. On April 16, hours after the special NIA court on Monday acquitted all five accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case, Reddy, who presided over the order submitted his resignation.

The unexpected resignation had sparked a controversy with some sections seeing a link between the acquittal of all accused and his abrupt decision.

The five accused who were acquitted today are Nabakumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Devender Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajendra Choudhary -- all members of the right-wing group Abhinav Bharat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 19, 2018 01:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).