New Delhi, July 22 -- The Bombay High Court in a landmark decision on Monday acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blast incident, almost two decades after the attack killed more than 180 people.

Pronouncing the order, the bench said that the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was "hard to believe the accused committed the crime".

The court allowed the appeals filed by the accused challenging their conviction and sentences imposed on them by a special court in 2015 regarding the Mumbai train blasts.

The special court had sentenced five out of the 12 accused to death, while the remaining seven were sentenced to life imprisonment. One of the accused on death row passed away in 2021.

The death row convicts in...