Ten acquitted in 1993 Mumbai riot case

A special court set up to try 1993 Mumbai riots cases has acquitted ten persons for lack of evidence

A special court set up to try 1993 Mumbai riots cases has acquitted ten persons for lack of evidence.

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One of the accused, Shaikh Ali Shaikh, was convicted for unlawful assembly, but his sentence was suspended under the Probation of Offenders Act.

All the accused were charged with being part of a rioting mob that killed a police constable in Deonar, North-East Mumbai.

On January 1, 1993, there were clashes between two groups at Deonar and the mob also attacked the police.

Police arrested 12 persons - Arvind Waidande, Nir Jamuddin Ansari, Chunnal Shah, Rajkumar Harijan, Asghar Ansari, Ramchandra, Shriram Harjan, Karim Ali Qureishi, Mohammed Shaikh, Naushad Khan and Asif Pathan. Waidande died while the trial was pending.

During the trial, eye-witnesses, that is the policemen present on the spot, could identify only Shaikh. Therefore, Sessions Judge B D Khatavkar last week acquitted all barring Shaikh, who was released on probation.