Surindra Yadav comes out of the Gaya court. Picture by Suman

Gaya, Oct. 6: The seven-year-old custodial kidnapping case today ended in an anti-climax. All the accused, including former state excise minister Surindra Prasad Yadav, Gaya deputy mayor Mohan Srivastava and former member of legislative council (MLC) Azad Gandhi were acquitted by the fast track court judge K.K. Agrawal.

As per the prosecution charge, Atul Prakash, a Gujarat-based businessman hailing from Bihar, was kidnapped from the police custody during transit from Gaya railway station. He was subsequently tortured at the Jail Road residence of Surindra Prasad Yadav.

Atul Prakash was allegedly tortured to extract information about his brother Pappu, an employee of State Bank of India (SBI), Raj Bhavan branch. Pappu went missing after allegedly siphoning off the benami account of some politicians of the state.

The incident hogged national headlines. The case was first registered on the basis of the statement of assistant sub-inspector Ramakant Ram, who was subsequently made an accused in the case. According to defence lawyer Satya Narain Singh, the prosecution failed to establish its case and the informant was himself made an accused. Moreover, the prosecution could not even produce Atul Prakash, the victim of the custodial kidnapping case.

Atul Prakash had made a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC statement made before the police.