New Delhi: A special court on Thursday acquitted all five accused in the Maulana Showkat Ahmad Shah murder case. One of the accused had already died during the trial.
Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith chief Maulvi Showkat Ahmad Shah was killed in an IED blast outside a mosque in the Maisuma area of Srinagar on April 8, 2011.
The slain cleric was considered a close associate of Muhammad Yasin Malik, head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and had previously been detained under the Public Safety Act during the 2010 riots.
After the murder of Maulana Showkat, the Jammu and Kashmir Police immediately started an investigation and registered an FIR in 2011 under Section 302 7/27, 4/5 Sub-Act 13 and 18 for illegal activities. It also filed a charge sheet against five persons before a special court.
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After more than nine years, the court, headed by Judge Ashwini Kumar, observed that no charges had been proved against the accused and acquitted all the accused.
One of the accused, Abdul Thani Dar alias Abdullah Ghaznavi has already passed away on February 2, 2020, while the other acquitted include Nisar Ahmed Khan, Javed Ahmed Munshi, Abdul Majeed Dar, Gulzar Khan and Riaz Ahmed Shah.
Of the five suspects, three had already been released on bail and two were still in jail.
One of them is lodged in Srinagar Central Jail and the other in Kot Bhalwal Central Jail.
Instructions have been issued to the concerned jail authorities for his release.
