Mumbai, Jan 30 (IANS) A Mumbai sessions court Monday acquitted four accused in the 2007 Adnan Patrawala murder case after the prosecution failed to prove its case, a lawyer said. The victim’s father termed the verdict “shocking” and said he would appeal in a higher court.

“The court has rubbished the conspiracy theories by the prosecution in this case. With the chain of circumstances not being proven in court, the case has gone in favour of the defence,” defence counsel Ashish Chauhan told reporters here.

The four accused were Amit Kaushal, Ayush Bhat, Sujit Nair and Rajeev Dhariya. The fifth accused, a minor, is being tried in a juvenile court.

Terming the sessions court verdict as “shocking”, Adnan’s father Aslam Patrawala said that he will not give up till justice is served.

“Justice has been denied to us and I don’t know why the court has given this kind of judgement. The case was very straightforward and clear,” he said.

Adnan, the then 16-year-old son of Mumbai builder Aslam Patrawala, was killed in Mumbai on August 18, 2007 allegedly by his friends.

The accused had allegedly befriended Adnan. They later kidnapped him and demanded a ransom of Rs.2 crore from his family. Police found Adnan’s body on the Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai. He had been strangled to death.

The police charged the accused with kidnapping, murder, extortion and destruction of evidence.