India, March 18 -- A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Monday acquitted gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje aka Chhota Rajan in the 2011 Pakmodia street firing case. Police had claimed that two gunmen had shot dead the bodyguard of Dawood Ibrahim's brother, Iqbal Kaskar, on Pakmodia Street, at Rajan's behest, but the court acquitted the gangster for want of cogent evidence.

According to the prosecution, on May 17, 2011, around 9.30pm, two gunmen reached Kaskar's house on a bike and shot dead his bodyguard-cum-driver Arif Abubakar Sayyad. The gunmen - Indra Lalbahadur Khatri and Bilal Sayyad Mustafa - were nabbed by local police and the case was investigated by the crime branch, which claimed that Rajan wa...