Thursday, May 19 2005 18:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Special POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) court would pronounce on June 6 the judgement in the bomb blast in a BEST bus at suburban Ghatkopar on Dec 2, 2002.

The court had said earlier that the judgement would be pronounced on May 20.

However, it has been adjourned to June 6 as the court is in the process of dictating the judgement.

Two persons were killed and 49 injured when a bomb went off inside a BEST bus parked outside its Ghatkopar depot.

Eight persons, including forensic expert Abdul Mateen and software engineer from Parbhani town in Marathwada Khwaja Younus were accused of the crime. Younus allegedly died in police custody, while police claimed that he escaped from its custody.

Other accused are Toufiq alias Chittu, Imran Rehman Khan, Mohammad Altaf Abu Hasan, Muzammil, Arif Hussain alias Panwalla, Haroon Rashid Lohar and Rashid Ahmed Ansari.

In all, 11 witnesses, including the conductor of the bus in which the blast took place turned hostile.

Last year, nine accused - Saquib Nachan, Haseeb Zuber Mullah, Aatif Mullah, Ghulam Sattar, Farhan Khot, Mohammed Kamil, Noor Mohammed Ansari, Anwar Ali and Nadeem Paloba - were discharged by the prosecution for lack of evidence.

Most of the accused discharged in this case are also accused of engineering subsequent blasts at suburban Mulund and Vile Parle.