145;We are innocent, why worry?146;

8216;8216;It will hardly make a difference. The court has announced its verdict. My brother is innocent,8217;8217; says Bharat Thakkar, whose brother Sanjay spent time in jail as a suspect in the case.

8216;8216;And my brother isn8217;t in hiding, okay?8217;8217; he shouts at this reporter. 8216;8216;He8217;s on a business trip to Halol. Why should he be worried when he8217;s innocent?8217;8217;

But the news weighs heavy on Jadhav who has just returned from Shirdi where he had gone a pilgrimage after his acquittal.

8216;8216;My life has been ruined by the police. They implicated me in the case. I was put behind bars for 15 months for a crime I did not commit,8217;8217; he says, adding his workshop while he was in jail. 8216;8216;Many of my clients were Muslims. Despite the court giving me a clean chit, they are unwilling to give me work,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;Will the NHRC appeal on my behalf?8217;8217;

Budhabhai Parmar says the case brought him troubles even though he himself was not an accused. His brother-in-law Sanabhai Baria went to jail in the case and Parmar has had to take care of Baria8217;s wife and teenaged daughter, who live in a one-room hovel right behind Best Bakery. Baria was last seen at Hanuman Tekri the day he was released from jail after the judgment. 8216;8216;Maybe he8217;s at his native village. We don8217;t know,8217;8217; says Parmar. 8216;8216;All I know is that I earn Rs 50 daily and, apart from my family, have to take care of his wife and daughter. There8217;s no one to listen to us.8217;8217;

Asked if they received any help from Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Madhu Shrivastava 8212; who the witnesses alleged was behind threats which made them turn hostile 8212; Parmar says: 8216;8216;We are small people, who bothers about us.8217;8217; At the house of another accused, Ravi Chauhan, the reaction is one of anger. His father Rajaram, who runs a grocery shop, refuses to say anything or let the press talk to his son.

Neighbours of Rajubhai Baria, another accused in the case, say they do not know his whereabouts. 8216;8216;He must have gone to his village,8217;8217; they say. 8216;8216;Once in a while, he comes here to look at his house.8217;8217;

And Yasinbhai Khokhar, a Muslim accused in the case, is also missing. Neighbours say he8217;s a truck driver and is rarely seen. 8216;8216;He goes on work and returns once in several days,8217;8217; they say.