The Maharashtra government on Friday filed an appeal in the Bombay high court challenging the acquittal of the five accused in the Ghatkopar bomb blast case.

• Ghatkopar blast: All accused acquitted

The appeal will come up for hearing in due course. The state government has appealed against the acquittal of prime accused Dr Abdul Mateen Abdul Basit and four others -- Mohammed Altaf, Imran Rehman Khan, Shaikh Mohammed Muzammil and Toufiq Hamid.

A Prevention of Terrorism Act Court had recently acquitted the eight accused in the blasts. However, the state challenged the acquittal of only five of the accused.

• Blast outside Ghatkopar station in Mumbai, 2 killed

A blast had taken place in a city bus in Ghatkopar on December 2, 2002, in which two persons were killed and 49 injured.

Special POTA Judge A P Bhangale had acquitted all the eight accused on June 11, as the prosecution failed to prove charges against them.

The blast was the first in the series of bomb explosions that rocked the city in 2002 and 2003.

This is the first POTA case in which judgement has been delivered. Eight persons, including forensic expert Dr Abdul Mateen and software engineer from Parbhani town in Marathwada, Khwaja Younus, were accused of the crime.

Younus allegedly died in custody, while the police claimed that he had escaped from a police jeep while being taken to Ahmednagar.