Twenty-five persons allegedly involved in the Kandhamal communal riots in Odisha in 2008 were acquitted by a local court on Wednesday due to lack of proper evidence against them.
Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track) B N Mishra acquitted 25 persons who were booked on charges of rioting and arson.
According to the prosecution, one Chitrasen Digal of Kakadabadi village had lodged a FIR with Daringbadi police alleging that some armed miscreants had torched some houses in his village including his own on September 28, 2008 during the Kandhmal riots.
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Acting on the FIR, Daringbadi police had arrested one Sumant Digal and 24 others on the alleged charges, S Mohapatra, Additional Public Prosecutor, said.
The riots occurred in Kandhamal, a tribal-dominated district, in the aftermath of the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati at the Jalespata Ashram on August 23, 2008.