Bhubaneswar: The court of additional sessions judge, Khurda, on Thursday acquitted two accused involved in the gang-rape of an engineering graduate in Chandaka in July 2013.

The prime accused, Jitendra Biswal, committed suicide in Jharapada special jail on May 12, allegedly over delay in trial of the case.

The court acquitted both the accused Bikash Sethy and Ranjan Sethy for lack of evidence. Defence lawyer Chitta Ranjan Das said the girl's statement and witnesses had mismatched during the trial. "The medical report and forensic report also did not support the case. There were glaring faults in the police investigation, and the charge sheet was exaggerated. All these factors led to acquittal of my clients," said Das.

He said 17 witnesses had been examined and cross-examined during the trial.

Biswal of Kendrapara asked the girl for a date after both of them had come close on a social networking site. Later, Biswal and the duo had took the girl to the Chandaka forest in a car and allegedly raped her. Biswal's body was found hanging from a window railing of the jail toilet. He was rushed to Capital Hospital, where he was pronounced received dead. "Today's verdict proved that my son was innocent, and it was the police who had framed him," said Biswal's father Premananda.