Accused in arson case at Salman Khurshid's house acquitted: Uttarakhand HC

The Uttarakhand High Court has acquitted the two main accused in the November 2021 case of vandalism and arson at the house of senior Congress leader and former Union minister Salman Khurshid.

Kundan Chilwal and Rakesh Kapil were acquitted of the charges by senior Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra on Thursday on the basis of a letter of settlement produced by the caretaker of Khurshid's property, who was also the complainant in the matter.

On November 15, 2021, arson, vandalism and firing were reported at Khurshid's house in village Puda in Mukteshwar, causing damage to the property.

On the complaint of the caretaker of the house Sundar Ram, the police had registered a case against Chilwal and Kapil.

Earlier, the court had stayed their arrest.

On Thursday, an agreement was presented before the court on behalf of Chilwal, Kapil and caretaker Sundar Ram. Based on this, the court disposed of the case.

The agreement states that these people were not involved in the incident which was carried out due to political reasons.

Khurshid's house had been attacked amid a raging controversy over his book Sunrise Over Ayodhya:Nationhood In Our Times in which he had drawn a comparison between Hindutva and ISIS.