Court acquits three in robbery case connected to IC814 hijack

MUMBAI: A local court today acquitted three persons charged with looting a bank and later transferring a part of the booty for the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in December 1999.

Sessions court here acquitted Abdul Latif and Bhopalman Yusuf Khan. Both the men were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the hijack by a CBI court in Delhi in 2008.

Besides, the court also acquitted one Mushtaq Ahmed. According to the prosecution, on October 6, 1999, the three robbed Maharashtra State Co-operative bank in suburban Borivali and fled with Rs 7 lakh cash.

They were arrested on December 30, 1999 and police claimed to have recovered around Rs 2 lakh from them. The police also said that they recovered AK-56 rifles, hand grenades and rocket launchers from their house in Jogeshwari.