PESHAWAR, Feb 4: An anti-terrorism court on Friday acquitted 23 persons charged with attacking and damaging a grid station of Pesco in Badabher area. Judge Shahjee Rehman Khan observed that the prosecution could not prove its case against the accused persons.

The court observed that the investigation into the case was faulty and even the witnesses had been unsure whether the accused persons were involved. Two officials of the Pesco appeared in the case and stated that they could not recognise any of the 23 accused. The Badabher police registered an FIR after a mob protesting against continuous load shedding had attacked a grid station. The prosecution claimed that the attackers had inflicted an over Rs10 million loss to the state.

Advocate Intikhab Khan appeared for the defence and argued that the accused were implicated in the case. He contended that the evidence on record proved the innocence of the accused persons.

The counsel pointed out that a protest procession had been taken out against load shedding. The demonstration had turned violent and unidentified persons attacked the station, he said and added that identification parade of the accused-defendants had not been conducted to confirm their involvement in the attack.