LONDON: The Birmingham Crown court has acquitted Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) extremist Mohammad Aslam Mirza from three charges — murder, kidnapping and the false imprisonment of 50-year-old Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre. After a five hour deliberation on Thursday, the jury delivered its verdict following a nine-day trial.

A British citizen, Mirza was arrested from Pennsylvania for overstaying in the US after his visa had expired. Finger-print evidence revealed that he was a member of the JKLF, wanted for the kidnap and murder of Mhatre. In 1984, Mhatre was abducted and killed in an attempt to secure the release from prison of the group’s founder Maqbool Bhat.

Mirza told the court he was not involved in the murder and added that he was appaled by the charges. He had no recollection of the events due to severe memory problems. Denying any involvement, he told the court that after the killing he had gone to Kashmir on family business. Earlier, the court had heard how Mhatre, who lived in Barley Green with his wife and children, had been kidnapped from a road, bundled in a car and taken to a house in Alum Rock. Prosecutor William Davis said Mhatre was held there for two days until February 5, 1984. He said, “He was driven to a really remote spot in Leicestershire and shot three times.’’

Davis said that ransom letters demanding a £1 million ransom and the release of a prisoner sentenced to death by Indian authorities were sent to the offices of news agencies in London. Two men were convicted of the murder shortly afterwards. However, the man believed to have actually shot Mhatre has never been caught.

Davis said although Mirza, a member of Kashmir Jihad, was not present at the scene, he was ‘party’ to the murder by taking part in the enterprise that led to Mr Mhatre’s death.