The key factors which turned the verdict in the Ansari's favour were no proper evidence by the eyewitness to the crime. The main eyewitness were Sanjiv Rai and Munna Rai of Jamania who did not record their evidence, left the district and settled in different city. One other eyewitness, Shashikant Rai, who survived the gunfire attack on the Krishnanand's vehicle in 2005, also died later under mysterious circumstances according to reports. These were several reasons which contributed to the acquittal of the accused according to Ramanand Rai, lawyer and relative of the late BJP legislator.
The defense lawyer, R S Malik argued that Azaz-ul-Haq, one of the accused, was disabled and did not possess the motor skills to use complex guns used in the crime, such as AK-47, A-56 or 7.62mm SLR. Considering it a valid argument, the court allowed the submission of the same. Also a telephonic conversation between Ansari and another don Abhay Singh, was submitted in court but did not register as evidence.
The prosecution had argued that the aid provided by Krishnanand Rai to Brijesh Singh, another east UP don over Ansari while both of them were in jail, rattled Ansari and triggered him to carry out the hit on Krishnanand. The strongest point for the prosecutor was that the accused never admitted to not doing the crime. The gunfire on the convoy transporting Krishnand, was carried out on November 29, 2005, also killed six others. A chargesheet was then prepared against, Mukhtar Ansari and Afzal, Azaz-ul-Haq, Munna Bajrangi, Atta-ur-Rehman, Firdaus, Sanjeev Maheshwari, Rakesh Pandey, Ramu Mallah, Vishwas, Jafar, Afroz Khan and Mansoor Ansari. Two of them, Bajrangi and Firdaus died during trial, Vishwas, Atta-ur-Rehman and Jafar still absconding, while a closure report was filed against Afroz. In the end, effectively seven accused stood for trial.