India, March 20 -- Sixteen years after they were arrested allegedly for possessing illegal weapons including a carbine and over 70 live cartridges, a magistrate's court has acquitted three individuals charged under the Arms Act.

One of the accused, Ali Hasan Abdullah Qureshi, died last month and the trial against him was abated. Qureshi, his brother-in-law Nasir Shaikh Ahmad Shaikh, an autorickshaw driver, and Jubeda Abdul Mansuri, who were out on bail during the trial, were acquitted by an order of additional chief judicial magistrate SD Panjwani on March 10.

The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had arrested the trio following an FIR filed on June 25, 2010. A day earlier, an ATS team had intercepted Shaikh near Shreyas Cinema in Ghatkopar we...