Mumbai: Rejecting prosecution evidence, a sessions court on August 4 acquitted seven alleged members of Dawood Ibrahim gang of the charge of conspiracy to kill Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

Judge M V Marathe, acquitting the accused, observed that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges of conspiracy and waging war against the nation.

The court pulled up police for its lapses and discarded evidence given by the prosecution. The judge observed that the first information report (FIR) appeared to be "concocted" and it did not mention that the accused had planned to kill Advani.

Police relied on statements of co-accused and witnesses in this regard. The prosecution also did not explain the delay in filing the FIR.

The accused are Akbar Hussain, Shafi Hussain, Zakir Hussain Shaikh, Mohammed Hanif, Javed Khan, Srinivas Naidu alias Tohil, Mohammed Saddiq Ansari and Mohammed Sadiq Shaikh.

Seven other accused were shown in the chargesheet as absconding and would be tried separately whenever they are arrested. They include Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel, Sagir Ali, Sabir Ali Shaikh, Farooq Davdiwala and Anwar Alias Tanveer.

The court also disbelieved the public witnesses who had witnessed recovery of a pistol from accused Akbar Hussain.

According to police, the accused had allegedly hatched a conspiracy in 2001 to kill the then Union Home Minister L K Advani. They had conspired in Mumbai and held meetings in Bharat Cafe in suburban Ghatkopar.

Police also alleged the accused had gone to Lucknow in furtherance of the conspiracy to kill Advani, as the then Home Minister was to visit Lucknow in September 2001.

PTI