India, Aug. 31 -- A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted six men, including a social worker, in a 14-year-old case of extortion and wrongful restraint, citing absence of evidence.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Vikram M Karhadkar cleared all six accused of charges under sections 384 (extortion) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the sole prosecution witness failed to support the case, which stemmed from a 2011 incident.

A copy of the order passed on August 27 was made available on Sunday.

The court acquitted Santosh Shivram Sonawane, Kailash Narsing Bakule, Sushant Sayaji Jadhav, Sachin Vijay Chavan, Pradeep Shantaram Gole, and Sunil Deepak Khambe. Another accused in the case passed away during ...