26/11 kingpin Lakhvi acquitted by Pakistani court

A local court in Pakistan on Tuesday acquitted Mumbai terror attacks alleged kingpin Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in a case pertaining to the abduction of an Afghan national.

The Islamabad police booked Lakhvi for the alleged kidnapping of the Afghan national after the Islamabad High Court suspended Lakhvi's detention in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case on December 26, 2014.

As per the First Information Report that the Islamabad police registered on December 29, 2014, Mohammad Daud complained that his brother-in-law Anwar Khan, an Afghan national, was kidnapped by Lakhvi over six years ago.

During Tuesday's hearing, police lawyer Amir Nadeem Tabish presented his arguments, saying that Lakhvi had been directly named 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 for the kidnapping.

However, in it's 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, a judicial magistrate dismissed a petition seeking the acquittal of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in a kidnapping case.

Lakhvi, who is also facing trial for being the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was released from Adiala jail on April 10 following the Lahore High Court's dismissal of detention orders issued against him by the Okara District Coordination Officer on March 14.