POTA court acquits accused of two charges in Pandya case

Ahmedabad, Feb 28 (UNI) The POTA court today acquitted Mohammed Zunaid of conspiracy to murder charges in the case of former Gujarat Home Minister Harendra Pandya's murder in March 2003.

Judge Sonia Gokhani, however, held Zunaid guilty under Section 174(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for transporting other accused to the spot of incident and other places and punished him with four years of rigorous imprisonment.

Mr Pandya was shot dead while he was coming out of his car for a morning walk at Law Garden on March 26, 2003.

CBI, which is investigating the case, had termed 19 accused in the case.

Of the 19, twelve were held guilty earlier. Three main accused--Rasool Patti, Mufti Patangia and Sohail Khan Patha -- are still absconding, while three others were exonerated by special POTA review committee earlier.

UNI MP SSS SYU VC2341