A Gandhinagar court on Friday acquitted all 28 accused in a post-Godhra riot case owing to lack of substantial evidence.
The accused, who were already on bail were part of a mob of around 250 locals of the Paliyad village in Gandhinagar who indulged in arson, rioting and damaging property of minority community on February 28, 2002, a day after the train burning incident at Godhra railway station.
The court, while pronouncing the judgment noted that there was not enough evidence against the accused as all the witnesses had turned hostile, unable to identify the accused.
About 58 persons lost their lives when the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was torched at Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002.
The incident had triggered large scale riots in Gujarat in which around 1,000 people, mostly of minority community, were killed.
(With inputs from agencies)