Raja Acharya acquitted in a 1994 case

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Apr 30:

Raja Acharya, prime accused in the sensational murder of Biranchi Das, coach of child marathon runner Budhia Singh, was acquitted by a trial court here on Tuesday in the 1994 College Square firing case here in which a local businessman Dinesh Thakur was critically wounded.

In her judgement, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Geeta Mohanty exonerated Acharya of attempt to murder and extortion charges, framed against him by local Malgodown police, due to lack of evidence.

Police had registered a case against Acharya under section 307 and section 387 of IPC, and section 27 of Arms Act.

According to the prosecution, Acharya had allegedly demanded extortion money from Thakur who was running a popular snacks outlet at the College Square.

As Thakur refused to comply, Acharya had allegedly barged into his outlet on July 4, 1994 and opened fired at him.

Police later arrested Acharya after two weeks of the incident.