India, May 11 -- A special court designated under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday acquitted underworld gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, known as Chhota Rajan in a 2004 attempted murder case involving an associate of a city builder, citing lack of evidence.

Special judge A M Patil, while delivering the verdict, noted that the prosecution had failed to establish Rajan's role in the conspiracy or his connection with the co-accused. "In sum and substance, it can be said that the prosecution has failed to prove the guilt of the accused," the court observed. Rajan is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, serving a life sentence in the 2011 murder of journalist J Dey.

The case pertains to a September 2004 incident where six ...