LAHORE  -  A special court on Thursday acquitted seven ac­cused, involved in a petrol scam that had hit the country in the first half of 2020, citing lack of evi­dence. The court acquitted former chairperson Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Uzma Adil Khan, former OGRA Member Oil Abdullah Ahmad Malik, former OGRA Chairman Saeed Ahmad Khan, former OGRA Member Gas Amir Nasim, Askar Oil Services directors Sohail Nasim, Shakeel Nasim and M Shahzad Anjum while allowing their acquittal ap­plications. Special Court (Central) Duty Judge Abdul Sattar Langah conducted proceedings on acquittal applications, filed by the accused and announced the verdict after hearing detailed arguments of the parties. The FIA had filed challan against the ac­cused and alleged that they were involved in billion of rupees fraud, committed through price fluctua­tion and hoarding of petroleum products, also cre­ating an artificial shortage in market. The agency also accused the owners of oil marketing compa­nies of laundering the money, accumulated through fraud in prices. The FIA initiated the inquiry after receiving findings of the probe, which was held to find out the causes of an artificial shortage of the petroleum products during the first half of 2020. The government had (on July 28, 2020) constituted the commission, which conducted the probe while taking all stakeholders on board.