A special court on Wednesday acquitted three men accused in the 2021 Nimtita railway station blast in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, which left then-state labour minister Zakir Hossain and at least 22 others seriously injured.

The court found no evidence linking Isha Khan, Abu Samad and Saidul Islam to the bombing, observing that none of the 62 witnesses testified to seeing them at the scene when the explosion occurred on 17 February, 2021. “The prosecution failed to establish that the accused were present at the spot during the blast,” the judge said, noting that test identification parades, documents and other materials placed on record could not prove their involvement. Initially, the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) handled the case, but within weeks the probe was

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