The Patna High Court Friday acquitted 11 persons sentenced in the 1998 massacre in Bhojpur in which 10 CPI-ML supporters were killed. A Division Bench acquitted three persons sentenced to death by a lower court. It also acquitted eight others who were sentenced to life in August 2010. Defence lawyer Purusottam Kumar said,We appealed against the Bhojpur court order. The high court acquitted all of them for lack of adequate corroborative evidence. The CPI-ML supporters were killed on May 11,1998 at Nagari Bazaar village in Bhojpur. Eleven upper caste men,allegedly owing allegiance to now disbanded Ranbir Sena,were made accused in the case. This is the second time in the past two years that the high court has acquitted people convicted in a massacre case by lower court. It had earlier acquitted 23 persons convicted in the Bathani Tola massacre. The state government has sought a review of Bathani Tola accused acquittal in the Supreme Court.
