On this day in 1993, within two hours and ten minutes a series of bombings brought to a halt India’s financial capital, Mumbai, then known as Bombay.
The first bomb went off on Friday, March 12, around 1:30 pm and the first target was the city’s most iconic building – the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). This was followed by a series of blasts at the most commercial and crowded places of India’s liveliest city. The blast stopped around 3:40 pm and by then Mumbai had turned into a nightmare.
During the attack, fishermen’s colony at Mahim Causeway, Plaza Cinema, Hotel Sea Rock, Air India Building, Zaveri Bazar, Hotel Juhu Centaur, Century Bazar, Katha Bazar, Worli and Passport Office were targeted, killing over 250 people. While 700 others were injured.
Various public places in the city were targeted using scooters, suitcases and cars – all of which were bombed and left in public places. All these bombs were fired one after the other using timers at intervals of 15 to 30 minutes.
The blasts carried out by underworld goon Dawood Ibrahim, along with Tiger Menon, was the biggest terror attack ever in India. This was also the first time that RDX was used to make bombs.
Dawood’s younger brother Anees Ibrahim was tasked with bringing RDX to 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 after the arrest of Gul Mohammad Sheikh alias Gullu on 9 March by Mumbai Police for rioting.
According to various reports, Mumbai Police laughed at Gali’s confession when he told them about the plot to detonate major places across the city. However, later, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria constituted an over 150-member task force to look into the matter and reportedly the matter was resolved within the next 48 hours.
The task force discovered an abandoned scooter and a Maruti van full of grenades, which did not explode.
Key Suspects of Mumbai blasts:
Five years ago, in June 2017, a special court found six prime suspects guilty of planning these attacks and they are:
abu salem: He was found guilty of distributing arms and ammunition
mustafa dosaHe was accused of bringing arms and explosives into the country. He was also accused of conspiring and sending people to Pakistan for training.
Tahir Merchant: He was accused of making travel arrangements for other criminals to Pakistan
Riyaz Siddiqui: He was found guilty of sending the explosives used in the blast
Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan: When they reached Mumbai they were accused of receiving ammunition
Karimullah SheikhHe was accused of smuggling arms into the country.
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