Shaikh Batterywala, were acquitted by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence after a POTA review committee had recommended their discharge. The duo was accused of connecting the timer with the detonator and of preparing the other electrical circuits used in the deadly bombs.

Another prime accused and the mastermind behind the blasts, Nazir, was shot dead in a gunfight with police at Matunga in central Mumbai in September 2003.

Four cases, in which 101 witnesses were examined, were simultaneously filed against all the accused.

These were the blast at Gateway of India; the Zaveri Bazaar; the July 28, 2003, explosion outside the Ghatkopar railway station in which two people were killed; the fourth case pertained to the planting of a bomb in a public (BEST) bus on Dec 2, 2003 at the Special Electronics Export Promotion Zone (SEEPZ) in Andheri East that failed to explode.

According to Nikam, the 'handlers' of the accused were not happy with the blast in Ghatkopar and the failed blast attempt in Andheri East and wanted to do something bigger.

'They hatched a conspiracy in Dubai to carry out the Mumbai twin blasts in which RDX was used to cause maximum deaths and damage,' he said.

This was most awaited judgement in a terror attack case in the city since the special TADA court completed the March 12, 1993 serial blasts trial in 2007. That led to the conviction of 100 people, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.

Nikam was the prosecutor in both cases.