NEW DELHI, 23 December 2003 — Former Indian Prime Minister Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao, 83, was acquitted yesterday of involvement in a decades old, $100,000 corruption scandal — the last of three criminal cases that shrouded the final years of his political career.

He has already been cleared in the other two cases.

Rao was accused of cheating Britain-based Indian pickle tycoon Lakhubhai Pathak of $100,000 in 1983 by promising him a lucrative government contract to procure newsprint and paper pulp.

Indian guru Chandraswami and his aide K.N. Agarwal, who prosecutors alleged made the actual offer, were also acquitted.

“I find that Lakhubhai Pathak’s evidence is not reliable and it has not been corroborated,” Judge Dinesh Dayal said in his ruling. “His evidence has been constantly changing and there have been contradictions on vital aspects of the case.”

In Rao’s earlier cases, the former leader was charged with trying to offer bribes to buy opposition votes before a Parliament no-confidence ballot, and of forging documents to malign the son of another political rival who also became prime minister.

The cases sidelined Rao in his Congress party, which he led as president. “I do not want to make any political comments,” Rao told reporters.

Rao is credited with launching far-reaching economic changes in India’s Soviet-style socialist economy in 1991, a process that continued with sweeping privatization and the unshackling of state control in many areas of business.

Rao’s lawyer Kapil Sibal told reporters that the former premier had been waiting for eight years for this moment.

Rao had always maintained that the case was “politically motivated.”

Rao’s acquittal, also signaling the end of his political isolation, does not bode well for Congress, which is trying to attract Muslim votes for next year’s parliamentary elections. Rao is unpopular among Muslims as during his premiership, the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was demolished by Hindu zealots. Muslim leaders and intellectuals blamed Rao for failing to put down anti-Muslim riots that followed the destruction of the mosque.

Shocked by miserable performance in the recent assembly elections, Congress’ attempt to woo Muslim voters to its side was reflected in Parliament yesterday. The party wanted to know why the government was “interfering” in the functioning of the Aligarh Muslim University, an autonomous body, by directing it to conduct open entrance examinations.

Along with other opposition parties, Congress also condemned the government’s decision to impose conditions for Haj subsidies.

With Congress desperate for Muslim votes, Rao’s acquittal is unlikely to help his rehabilitation in the party.

— Additional input from agencies