A court here on Tuesday acquitted 15 people, including former Uttar Pradesh minister Upendra Tiwari and former BJP MP Bharat Singh, in a 12-year-old case of unlawful gathering, citing a lack of evidence.

The case pertains to a group of people blocking a national highway in Uttar Pradesh on March 29 in 2011 to press their various demands.

According to the prosecution, the case was registered at Phephna police station in Ballia district under sections 143 (joining unlawful assembly) and 447 (criminal trespass) of the Indian Penal Code.

After investigation, the police filed a charge sheet against all the 15 accused, including Tiwari and Singh.

After hearing the arguments of the prosecution and the defendants, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of MP-MLA Special Court Tapasya Tripathi acquitted all the accused for lack of evidence.

Tiwari was a BJP MLA twice in 2012 and 2017 from Phephna and served in the first Yogi Adityanath government as the minister of state for sports.

Singh was elected to Lok Sabha from Ballia in 2014.

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