1993 Mumbai blasts: 13 things you must know

Akrita Reyar

• The 1993 Bombay bombings was the name given to 13 serial explosions that took place in Mumbai on Friday, March 12, 1993.
• The first bomb went off at 1:30 pm in the basement of the Bombay Stock Exchange building. From 1:30 pm to 3:40 pm a total of 13 bombs exploded throughout Mumbai including at Fisherman`s Colony in Mahim, Plaza Cinema, Zaveri Bazaar, Katha Bazaar, Hotel Sea Rock, Hotel Juhu Centaur, Air India building, Sahar Airpot, Worli, and Passport office, besides BSE.
• Most bombs were planted in cars or scooters. In the hotels, suitcase bombs were left in the rooms.
• The 1993 bombings left at least 250 dead and over 700 injured, making these one of the bloodiest terror attacks.
• The operation is believed to have been the brain child of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, however Dawood Ibrahim along with his underworld associates including Tiger Memon, Ayub Memon and Yakub Memon were behind the planning and their operational execution.
• The bombings are said to have been financed by smugglers Hajji Ahmed, Hajji Umar, Taufiq Jaliawala, Aslam Bhatti and Dawood Jatt.
• Most ground level operators came from economically weak backgrounds and were emotionally persuaded to join operations allegedly as revenge for Babri mosque demolition.
• Recruitment of senior operatives is believed to have been done in Pakistan and Dubai. The chosen men are said to have received training in handling arms and making explosives in Pakistan.
• Laxity or deliberate connivance on the part of Police, Customs and Coastal Guards has partly been blamed by the Supreme Court.
• Sanjay Dutt has been convicted in the case for possession of illegal weapons and destruction of evidence under the Arms Act. He has, however, been given a clean chit as far as his involvement in planning or executing the Mumbai blasts of 1993 is concerned.
• Sharad Pawar was the chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993 and had admitted to deliberately making false statements and misleading people on information so as to avoid outbreak of communal clashes.
• 100 people had been convicted in the case, of which the kingpins Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Ayub Memon are absconding.
• The blasts created a cleavage in the underworld gang of Mumbai dividing it on communal lines. Immediately after the blasts, the Hindu members of D-company like Chhota Rajan and Sadhu Shetty left Dawood’s gang.