In yet another relief for Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Pakistani court today acquitted the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack case in connection with the kidnapping of an Afghan national in 2009.
Islamabad District and Sessions Court acquitted 55-year-old Lakhvi in a case registered against him for allegedly kidnapping Anwar Khan six years ago.
Session Court Judge Tanveer Mir heard the case after a judicial magistrate had deferred the indictment of Lakhvi on April 5. Earlier, police had failed to produce him in court due to 'security reasons'
The Islamabad police had booked Lakhvi for the alleged kidnapping of the Afghan national after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended his detention in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case on December 26, 2014.
During today's hearing, police lawyer Amir Nadeem Tabish presented his arguments, saying that Lakhvi had been directly implicated in the abduction case. He claimed that the plaintiff and the abducted person's brother were eyewitnesses in the kidnapping incident.
Nadeem requested the court to summon Lakhvi and indict him in the kidnapping.
However, in its ruling, the court said that the case was filed after a hiatus of six years. It said that the plaintiff in the case did not appear before the court even once and no one was aware of the whereabouts of the kidnapped person.
The court subsequently acquitted Lakhvi in the kidnapping case.
Earlier in February, the judicial magistrate had dismissed a petition seeking the acquittal of Lakhvi in a kidnapping case.
Lakhvi was released from Adiala jail on April 10 following the Lahore High Court's dismissal of his detention orders.
Lakhvi and six others have been charged with planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people and injured over 300.
