In a major setback to Mumbai Police, a special court Saturday acquitted all the eight accused in a case related to a bomb blast inside a bus in 2002 that killed two people and injured many.

Delivering its verdict after over two years of the incident, the special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court acquitted all the accused, including the alleged mastermind Abdul Mateen, due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Two people were killed and over 40 injured when a powerful bomb went off inside a bus parked outside the railway station of Ghatkopar suburb on Dec 2, 2002, in Mumbai.

Nine people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.

They were forensic expert Abdul Mateen, software engineer Khwaja Yunus, Jameel Ahmed, Toufiq Ahmed, Imran Rehman Khan, Altaf Mohammad Ismail, Arif Panwalla, Haroon Rashid Lohar and Rashid Ansari.

The case took a curious turn in 2003 when Yunus allegedly escaped from police custody while being transported to the Aurangabad jail for questioning. He was never found. Younus' family claims he was killed during interrogation.

All other eight accused were charged under POTA and the trial in the case started in May 2003.

The prosecution received a major blow when 11 bomb blast witnesses, including main complainant Dattatraya Shelkar, turned hostile during the trial that concluded last month.

Shelkar was the conductor of the bus in which the blast had taken place.

Mumbai Police officials say they might challenge the acquittal of all the accused by the POTA court in the high court.