A special designated court for trial of riot cases in Ahmedabad on Monday acquitted an accused of Gulberg society massacre, Ashish Ranjag Pandey, on Monday, largely on the ground that the prosecution failed to determine the identity of the said accused.

The accused was charged under IPC sections pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, gangrape, unlawful assembly, rioting, armed rioting, attack upon particular community, defiling place of worship, dacoity with murder, arson, read together with section 120B (conspiracy) and provisions of the Bombay Police Act.

Pandey was alleged by the prosecution part of the mob which ran havoc leading to the Gulberg massacre and was recorded as absconding in the original previous chargesheets.

Pandey faced trial only after he was arrested on January 9, 2018. A supplementary chargesheet came to be filed against Pandey in March 2018. The court proceeded with framing charges in October 2018.

The court in its judgment recorded that of the nine prosecution witnesses, all but one supported the prosecution’s case. The only one to not support the case was a victim of the massacre — Taiyabali Fakirmohammad Saiyed. The remaining witnesses were police officers.

While three witnesses admitted that they had seen the accused with a pipe in hand, it was not substantiated further. One witness identified the accused to have participated in the mob with a knife.