Mumbai, June 24: In another serious blow to Mumbai police, a terror law review committee has recommended that charges against two accused in the Gateway of India bomb blast case be dropped since there was no prima facie evidence to prove their terror links.

The recommendation comes within two weeks of a terror law court’s acquittal of all eight accused tried in the July 2003 Ghatkopar bus blast, one of the first in a series of explosions in Mumbai in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots.

On August 25, 2003, two bombs had exploded at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar within minutes of each other.

The three-member review committee of Justices Usha Mehra, K. Roy Paul and R.C. Jha has submitted its report to the Maharashtra government, recommending the discharge of Mohammed Ansari alias Rizwan Ladoowala, 24, and Mohammed Anshari Sheikh alias Hassan Batterywala, 44.

The crime branch of Mumbai police had arrested Ladoowala and Batterywala on November 11, 2003, on charges of links with the main accused in the case ? Sayyed Hanif and his wife Fahmida. Ladoowala was arrested for possessing two detonators while Batterywala was accused of storing 750g of RDX in his auto repair shop.

The review committee remarked in its report that there was no basis for their prosecution under the terror law and that it was unconvinced about their alleged terror links.