Bhubaneswar, May 22: All 18 persons, including gangster Anil Chhotray, were today acquitted by a local court in the sensational Prachi division murder case that had taken place in April 2005.

Two contractors Subash Chandra Das and Dhiren Kumar Sethi were allegedly chased by three gun-totting criminals and shot dead over tender rights in the water resources department. The verdict was pronounced today by second additional district and session's court.

Chhotray's lawyer Souri Mohapatra said that his client was acquitted after the investigating agency failed to establish that the bullets fired at the deceased were from weapons found on his client.

"After the incident, police had arrested two persons for allegedly firing at the deceased and also seized two firearms from them. Later, the police arrested Chhotray and claimed to have seized firearms from him. But the forensic report failed to establish that the bullets were fired from these firearms," said Mohapatra.