India, June 5 -- Bringing an end to a criminal case that lingered in the courts for nearly 25 years, a Pune court has acquitted a former branch postmaster accused of misappropriating postal savings deposits and forging records, observing that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vikramsingh E Bhandari acquitted Chandrakant Vishnu Vyavahare of Gotandi village in Indapur taluka of offences under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 468 (forgery), 427 (mischief), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 477 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The prosecution alleged that while serving as branch postmaster at Gotandi post office between May 1999 and March 2000, Vyava...