1993 Mumbai Bomb Blast: March 12, 1993 was a Friday. There was a stir in the Bombay Stock Exchange as usual, when at 1.30 in the afternoon, the basement of the 28-storey building of the exchange was shaken by a loud explosion. Fifty people were killed in this attack, but it was only the beginning. After half an hour, the second blast took place in a car and then the series of blasts started one after the other. Within two hours, there were 13 blasts at 12 places across Mumbai.
In these serial blasts, 257 people were killed and 713 people were injured. Even today the memories of that dreaded Friday are fresh in the minds of Mumbaikars. These blasts took place at prominent places like Shiv Sena Bhavan, Air India Building, Plaza Cinema, Sahara Airport in Mumbai. Earlier there was news of 12 blasts. Later Sharad Pawar told that there were not 12 but 13 blasts and one blast happened in a Muslim area as well.
The main accused has not been caught till date.
These blasts took place some time after the riots in Mumbai and it was called the revenge of the riots. Mumbai was shaken by this attack. According to the police, these attacks were carried out by Dawood Ibrahim, a terrorist living outside India. The conspiracy of the blast was hatched by Tiger Memon. Both have not been caught till date. In the case, 12 accused were sentenced to death by the trial court. There was also Yakub Memon who was hanged in 2015. Yakub Memon was the brother of the main accused Tiger.
When the name of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt surfaced in these blasts, people could not believe it. Sanjay Dutt was found guilty of possession of AK-56 by Mumbai's TADA court in 2006, but was acquitted of other charges.
150 teams for investigation
The investigation of the blasts was not easy for the police. The responsibility of the investigation was handed over to Rakesh Maria, a fast-paced officer of the Mumbai Police. At that time Maria used to be DCP Traffic. More than 150 teams were formed for the investigation, which collected evidence in different cities. On November 4, 1993, a preliminary charge sheet of 10,000 pages was filed. On November 19, 1993, the case was handed over to the CBI.
During the investigation, the police came to know about the involvement of Bollywood as well. Police arrested Sanjay Dutt. Sanjay was shooting for 'Aatish' in Mauritius. He was arrested on his return from there. He was in jail for 18 months. During interrogation, Sanjay Dutt confessed to possessing AK-56.
The Supreme Court also found Sanjay Dutt guilty.
In November 2006, the TADA court of Mumbai gave its verdict. On the basis of testimony and evidence of 600 people, 100 people including Yakub Memon, Sanjay Dutt were convicted. 23 people were acquitted. Sanjay Dutt was convicted of possessing AK-56, while acquitted in other serious cases. Later, the Supreme Court also found him guilty of possessing illegal arms and sentenced him to 5 years.
Four
of the people convicted by Mumbai's TADA court belonged to the same family. The names were Yakub Memon, Yusuf Memon, Isa Memon and Rubina Memon. Tiger was his only brother who could never be caught. Tiger, Yakub, Yusuf and Isa were the sons of former cricketer Abdul Razzaq Memon. Yakub Memon was hanged on November 30, 2015 at Yerwada Jail in Mumbai.
The blasts were planned in April.
The Mumbai Police had already received information about the planning of the blasts, but it was not taken seriously. Gul Mohammad, accused of the riots that took place after the demolition of the Babri structure, had informed the police about this. He told that he had brought bomb making training in Pakistan. After Gul Mohammad was caught, Tiger Memon carried out the blasts before the scheduled time.
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