It couldn't have come at better time for the beleagured Balakrishna.

Smarting under several problems and failures, Balakrishna got a major reprieve yesterday as a local court in Hyderabad acquitted him in the infamous shootout case involving Bellamkonda Suresh and his astrologer Satyanarayana Chowdary.

The court threw out the case on the grounds that there was no substantial evidence to prove Balakrishna, his wife Vasundara Devi and his driver Kanakayya participated in the shoot-out at Balakrishna's residence on June 3, 2004.

The case had lost its sting the moment two prosecution witnesses turned hostile. Both Bellamkonda and Chowdary had said that they were not sure whether it was Balakrishna who opened fire on them. So the case simply collapsed for want of corroborative evidence.

Any way, Balakrishna was a relieved man after all the trauma and tension.

His reaction was on expected lines. " My innocence has been vindicated," he said. "I have been saying this all along," he added. He also said that his fans' prayers and his parents good deeds worked in his favor.

Now that the monkey is off his back, he can perhaps concentrate on reviving his sagging film fortunes.