India, Oct. 31 -- A special CBI court has acquitted incarcerated gangster Chhota Rajan and four others in a 17-year-old attempt-to-murder case, where former Shiv Sena leader Ajay Bhosale was targeted in a shooting in Pune during the 2009 Maharashtra assembly election campaign.

On Friday, Special Judge Narendranath Ravindranath Pradhan acquitted Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, Mohammad Shakib Shahnawaj Alam Khan, businessman Surendra Kumar Bhramadatt Agarwal, Rajesh Dodaram Yadav and Vijay Purshottam Salvi alias Vijay Tambat of charges of attempted murder, criminal conspiracy and offences under the Arms Act.

The court also ordered Rajan and Khan to be released from custody if they were not required in any other case. Rajan ...