India, March 28 -- Ten years after Haryana-based gangster Sandeep Gadoli was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter in a Mumbai hotel, a sessions court on Friday acquitted all seven accused, including five Haryana police personnel, citing lack of cogent evidence to sustain charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.

Additional sessions judge Prashant C Kale pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom, bringing to a close a case that had triggered a high-profile probe and raised serious questions about inter-state policing and alleged extra-judicial killings.

Among those acquitted were Haryana police officers Pradyuman Yadav, Paramjeet Ahlawat, Jitendra Jaipal Yadav, Deepak Kumar and Vedprakash Kakran, along with alleged co-conspirators ...