Today, the Bombay High Court acquitted all the accused, holding that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

A special bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak delivered the verdict, noting that the prosecution's evidence was unreliable and insufficient. The Court observed that witness testimonies, including those of taxi drivers and train passengers, could not be relied upon after such a significant lapse of time, nearly 100 days after the blasts.

The bench further held that the recovery of alleged explosives, arms, and maps was immaterial, as the prosecution was unable to even identify the type of bomb used in the attacks.

One of the twelve accused, Kamal Ansari, had died in custody in 2021 due to COVID-19.

The serial blasts occurred on July 11, 2006, when seven explosions ripped through Mumbai’s suburban trains on the Western Railway line, killing 189 people and injuring over 800. The case was prosecuted under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

In October 2015, a special MCOCA court had sentenced five accused—Kamal Ansari, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui, Naveed Hussain Khan, and Asif Khan—to death for planting the bombs. The remaining seven were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The State had approached the High Court to confirm the death penalties, while the convicts challenged their convictions and sentences. However, the matter remained pending for several years. It was only in July 2024 that a special bench began hearing the appeals on a day-to-day basis.

Senior advocates S Muralidhar, Yug Mohit Chaudhry, Nitya Ramakrishnan, and S Nagamuthu represented the accused, arguing that the prosecution’s case was riddled with inconsistencies and legal errors.

Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare, appearing for the State, supported the confirmation of the death sentences, asserting that the case fell within the "rarest of rare" category.

After extensive hearings, the High Court concluded that the prosecution had utterly failed to meet the legal threshold of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt, leading to the acquittal of all surviving accused.