PESHAWAR, Oct 25: An Anti-Terrorism Court here on Tuesday acquitted 10 people, including an MPA of the Awami National Party, Khalil Abbas, in a case of election violence causing in the death of four people and injuries to various others.

The court Shahjee Rehman Khan pronounced that the prosecution could not prove the case against the accused.

The incident occurred on the night of the local government elections on August 18 in Akora Khattak (Nowshera).

The complainant, Zulfiqar Khan, who is also the newly-elected union nazim of the area, said that after his victory a procession was taken out by his supporters.

He said that his political opponents, including Khalil Abbas, opened fire upon the procession resulting in the death of four people: Raheel, Tajamal, Wahid and Asif.

The accused-defendants included Khalil Abbas, Haji Abdul Majid, Niaz Ali, Mohammad Naeem, Haji Abdul Malik, Mohammad Faiq, Imran Habib, Ahmad Ali, Abdul Sattar and Aman Ali.

Advocate Asadullah Chamkani appeared for the defendant and contended that the complainant and other prosecution witnesses had offered conflicting statements.

He stated that the legal heirs of the deceased had not charged the defendants.

Moreover, he contended that the police investigation was faulty and instead of conducting an independent investigation the police had relied on the FIR.