On this day in 1993, a series of bomb explosions within the space of two hours and ten minutes brought the financial capital of India, Mumbai, then known as Bombay, to a halt.
The first bomb went off on Friday, March 12 at around 1.30 pm and the first target was the city’s most iconic building: the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Then a series of explosions ripped through the most commercial and bustling spots of India’s liveliest city. The explosion stopped around 3:40 pm and by then Mumbai had exploded into a nightmare.
Fishermen’s colony in Mahim causeway, Plaza Cinema, Hotel Sea Rock, the Air India Building, Zaveri Bazaar, Hotel Juhu Centaur, Century Bazaar, Katha Bazaar, Worli and the Passport Office were targeted in the attack, which killed more than 250 people, while 700 others were injured.
The various public areas of the city were attacked using scooters, suitcases and cars – all of which had been tied up with bombs and left in public places. All these bombs were activated one after the other in a time frame of 15 to 30 minutes using a timer.
The explosions, the mastermind behind underworld goons Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Menon, were the largest terror attack carried out in India to date. It was also the first time RDX was used to make bombs.
Anees Ibrahim, Dawood’s younger brother, was tasked with getting RDX on Indian soil, and the original plan was to bomb Bombay in April 1993, on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti.
However, the date of the bombing was later revised following the arrest of Gul Mohammad Sheikh alias Gullu on March 9 by Mumbai Police for rioting.
According to several reports, Mumbai police laughed off Gully’s confession when he told them about the conspiracy to destroy large areas of the city. Later, however, Rakesh Maria, the then deputy police commissioner, set up a task force of more than 150 members to investigate the case and the case was reportedly cracked within 48 hours.
The task force discovered an abandoned scooter and a Maruti van stuffed with grenades, which failed to explode.
The prime suspects in Mumbai bombings:
Five years ago, in June 2017, a special court found six prime suspects guilty of planning these attacks, who are:
Abu Salem: He was found guilty of distributing weapons and ammunition
Mustafa Dossa: He was charged with bringing weapons and explosives into the country. He was also charged with conspiracy and for leading people to Pakistan for training
Tahir trader: He was charged with arranging travel arrangements for other offenders to Pakistan
Riyaz Siddiquic: He was found guilty of sending explosives used in the blast
Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan: He was charged with receiving the ammunition when they reached Mumbai
Karimullah Sheikh: He was charged with smuggling weapons into the country.
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