New Delhi: In a verdict that may have an impact on the Phoolan Devi murder trial, four of the accused in the case, including prime accused Sher Singh Rana, have been acquitted in another case of bank dacoity, booty from which was allegedly used to plan her murder.

Sessions judge P K Aggarwal, a fast track court in Roorkee, Uttaranchal, acquitted Rana, Vijay Rana alias Raju, Rajendra Singh and Dhanprakash alias Vicky of charges of looting Rs 15 lakh from the B T Ganj branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB) for want of evidence as all the eye-witnesses turned hostile during trial.

In its chargesheet in Phoolan murder case, Delhi police alleged that the accused used this booty to execute the murder conspiracy.

The incident dates back to January 8, 2001 when some miscreants looted a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) van – that came to collect cash from PNB's B T Ganj Branch – after attacking the security guards.

The armed robbers, who were in a white Maruti van, fired at one of the guards Tejpal Singh, who was hit on the face.

Singh fell down before another armed guard Yashpal Joshi and in the commotion that followed the miscreants fled with the cash.

In the first information report (FIR) registered the next day, witnesses said they saw the accused and could identify the culprits if brought before them.

However, the trial judge took note of the fact that FIR did not mention the names of the accused and they were never identified by the said witnesses during the investigation or trial.

PTI