A local court on Tuesday acquitted three persons arrested on the suspicion of being members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). "The court has acquitted three persons-- Sajid Ansari, his brother Khalid Ansari and Irshad Khan (former SIMI state president), for lack of evidence," defence lawyer Sharif Shaikh said.
Sajid is also an accused in the 2006 train blasts, he said.
Two first information reports (FIRs) had been registered against the accused, one for giving provocative speeches and the other for distributing pamphlets outside a mosque in suburban Mumbai, he said.
The trio, arrested in 2001, had been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the lawyer added. The prosecution's case was that the accused had organised a gathering outside a mosque and given provocative speeches.
Shaikh said the prosecution examined 12 witnesses, out of which, three turned hostile. "There was no recovery shown and no documentary proof available to prove the allegation," Shaikh said adding that policemen had given contradictory evidences.
Accepting Shaikh's argument the court, acquitted all the three accused for lack of evidence and prosecution's failure to prove the case against them.
