1993 Bombay bombings

1993 Bombay bombings
Location Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Date 12 March 1993
13:30–15:40 (UTC+05:30)
Target Hotels, office buildings, banks, etc.
Attack type car bombing
Weapon(s) 13 car bombs (RDX) containing shrapnel
Deaths 257[1]
Injured 713[2]
Assailants Underworld criminal groups affiliated with Islamic groups with training in Pakistan (D-Company)

The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 13 bomb explosions that took place in Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, India on Friday, 12 March 1993.[3] The coordinated attacks were the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history. The single-day attacks resulted in up to 250 fatalities and 700 injuries.[4]

The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim,[5] don of the Bombay-based international organized crime syndicate named D-Company, which had also operated as a terrorist organization.[6][7]

Ibrahim is believed to have ordered and helped organize the bombings in Bombay, through one of his subordinates, Tiger Memon. The bombings are also believed to have been financially assisted by the expatriate Indian smugglers, Hajji Ahmed, Hajji Umar and Taufiq Jaliawala, as well as the Pakistani smugglers, Aslam Bhatti and Dawood Jatt. The Indian authorities have also alleged the involvement of the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in the blasts.[7] Several of the terrorists received arms, ammunition and explosives training in Pakistan, or were recruited from Dubai, UAE.

It is believed that the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the enormous Muslim casualties and widespread damage to the Muslim-owned businesses and properties which occurred during the Hindu-Muslim riots in Bombay between December 1992 and January 1993, in the fall-out of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.[8]

Contents

Prelude

Background

In December 1992 and January 1993, there was widespread rioting in Mumbai following the 6 December destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya by extremist Hindu organisations. Although there was no loss of life in the incident at the Babri Mosque, a series of riots soon erupted throughout the nation, most notably in Bombay (now Mumbai). After five years following the December–January riots, the Srikrishna Commission Report stated that nine hundred individuals lost their lives and over two thousand were injured, most of them Muslim, in the riots.[9]

Confession of Gul Mohammed

Three days before the bombings took place on 9 March 1993, a small time hood from the Behrampada slum in North east Bombay named Gul Noor Mohammad Sheikh a.k.a "Gullu" was detained at the Nav Pada police station. A participant in the communal riots that had rocked Bombay the previous year, Gullu was also one of the 19 men handpicked by the gold smuggler and chief mastermind, Tiger Memon and sent to Pakistan via Dubai on 19 February 1993, for training of the use of arms and bomb making.[10]

Upon completion of his training, Gullu returned to Bombay via Dubai on 4 March 1993, only to find that in his absence the police had picked up his brothers to get him to surrender. In a vain attempt to secure his brothers' release, Gullu surrendered to the police. He confessed to his role in the riots, his training in Pakistan, and a conspiracy underway to bomb major locations around the city, including the Bombay Stock Exchange, Sahar International Airport and the Shiv Sena Bhavan. However, his conspiracy claim was dismissed by the police as "mere bluff".[10]

The arrest of Gul Mohammed spurred Tiger Memon to advance the date of the blasts which were to coincide with the Shiv Jayanti celebrations in April 1993 to 12 March to pre-empt any police action.[10][11]

The bombings

At 1:30 p.m. a powerful car bomb exploded in the basement of the Bombay Stock Exchange building. The 28-story office building housing the exchange was severely damaged, and many nearby office buildings also suffered some damage. About 50 were killed by this explosion.[12] About 30 minutes later, another car bomb exploded elsewhere in the city, and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. a total of 13 bombs exploded throughout Bombay. Most of the bombs were car bombs, but some were in scooters.[13]

Three hotels, the Hotel Sea Rock, Hotel Juhu Centaur, and Hotel Airport Centaur, were targeted by suitcase bombs left in rooms booked by the perpetrators.[14] Banks, the regional passport office, hotels, the Air India Building, and a major shopping complex were also hit. Bombs exploded at Zaveri Bazaar, area opposite of Century Bazaar, Katha Bazaar, Shiv Sena Bhawan, and Plaza Theatre. A jeep-bomb at the Century Bazaar exploded early, thwarting another attack.[15] Grenades were also thrown at Sahar International Airport and at Fishermen's Colony, apparently targeting Hindus at the latter.[16] A double decker bus was very badly damaged in one of the explosions and that single incident accounted for the greatest loss of life – perhaps up to ninety people were killed.[15]

Locations attacked included:

Aftermath

The official number of dead was 257 with 1,400 others injured (some news sources say 317 people died;[21] this is due to a bomb which killed 60 in Calcutta on 17 March[22]). Several days later, unexploded car bombs were discovered at a railway station. Terrorist groups based in Pakistan were suspected to be responsible for these bombings, and evidence uncovered pointed to the involvement of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

On 25 August 2003, two large and destructive bombs left in taxis exploded in south Mumbai – the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in the busy Kalbadevi area – killing 52 people, again entirely Hindus and wounding more than a hundred others. Two Pakistan based militant groups, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba, were found to be responsible for the attacks. Along with the July 2006 train bombings in Mumbai, these attacks are believed to be in retaliation for the 2002 Gujarat riots in which more than a thousand persons, mostly Muslims were killed,[23] though the Gujarat government denies such a connection.[24]

On 11 July 2006, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra during the blasts, Sharad Pawar, admitted, on record, that he had "deliberately misled" people following the 1993 Bombay blasts by saying there were "12 and not 11" explosions, adding the name of a Muslim-dominated locality to show that people from both communities had been affected.[25] He tried to justify this deception by claiming that it was a move to prevent communal riots by falsely portraying that both Hindu and Muslim communities in the city had been affected adversely. He also admits to lying about evidence recovered and misleading people into believing that some of it pointed to the Tamil Tigers as possible suspects.[25]

The bombings also caused a major rift within the D-Company, the most powerful criminal organization in the Mumbai underworld headed by Dawood Ibrahim. Infuriated at the bombings, Ibrahim's right hand man Chotta Rajan split from the organization, taking most of the leadership-level Hindu aides such as Sadhu Shetty, Jaspal Singh and Mohan Kotiyan with him. Rajan's split divided the Mumbai underworld along communal lines and pitted Chotta Rajan's predominantly Hindu gang against Dawood Ibrahim's predominantly Muslim D-Company. The ensuing gang war took the lives of more than a hundred gangsters and continues to this day.[26] Seven of the accused (Salim Kurla, Majeed Khan, Shakil Ahmed, Mohammed Jindran, Hanif Kadawala, Akbar Abu Sama Khan and Mohammed Latif) were systematically assassinated by Chotta Rajan's hitmen.[27][28]

Arrests, convictions and verdict

Many hundreds of people were arrested and detained in Indian courts. In 2006, 100 of the 129 finally accused were found to be guilty and were convicted by the specially designated TADA court. Many of the 100 are still missing including the main conspirators and masterminds of the attacks – Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim. On 12 September 2006, the special TADA court hearing the case convicted four members of the Memon family for their involvement in the 1993 Bombay bombings.[29]

Three other members of the Memon family were acquitted by the special TADA court with the judge giving them the benefit of doubt.[29] The four members of the Memon family are being held after being found guilty on charges of conspiring and abetting acts of terror.[30] All four of them face jail terms from five years in prison to life imprisonment, that will be determined based on the severity of their crime.[29] A day later, the TADA court announced that it would start pronouncing the verdict of the thirty-one people charged with transporting and planting bombs.

Yakub Memon, the brother of prime accused Tiger Memon, was charged for possession of unauthorised arms. After the blasts, family members of Tiger, including Yakub, escaped from Bombay to Dubai and Pakistan. Correspondents say Tiger Memon owned a restaurant in Bombay and was allegedly closely associated with Dawood Ibrahim, the chief suspect.[31]

Except for Tiger and his brother Ayub, the entire family returned to India and were prompty arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1994. Since then, Yakub has been in custody and is undergoing treatment for depression. The Memon family was subsequently tried in court and found guilty of conspiracy. The defence lawyers have asked for leniency in the sentencing and have caused delays in the process.[31]

Two of the accused, Mohammed Umar Khatlab and Badshah Khan (pseudonym given by the prosecution to hide his real identity) turned state approvers.[28]

Dawood Ibrahim, believed to have masterminded the terrorist attacks, is the Don of the Mumbai organised crime syndicate D-Company, largely consisting of Muslims. He is suspected of having connections to several Pakistan based terrorist groups,[32] such as al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden,[33] as well as Lashkar-e-Toiba[34] and was declared a terrorist by the governments of India and the United States in 2003. Ibrahim is now wanted by Interpol as a part of the worldwide terror syndicate of Osama bin Laden.[35] He has been in hiding since the blasts and is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, which the Pakistani government denies.[36] The Bush administration in the United States imposed sanctions on Ibrahim in 2006.[37]

The penalty stage of the longest running trial in India's history is still ongoing. In February 2007, prosecutors asked for the death penalty for forty-four of the hundred convicted. The prosecution also requested the death penalty for those convicted of conspiracy in the case.[38]

The Memons

The Planters

Prosecution has sought the death sentence for all except Imtiaz Ghavate as he is HIV positive. The prosecution has sought a lesser sentence for him.

Accused involved

Mohammed Moin Qureshi, Feroz Amani Malik, Bashir Khairulla, Zakir Hussain and Abdul Akhtar Khan had pelted hand grendes in Mahim Causeway causing three deaths and injuring six. The driver Salim Shaikh, did not pelt any hand grenades.

Landing agents

Customs officials

Policemen

Sanjay Dutt and friends

Others

Popular culture

S. Hussain Zaidi released a book by the name of Black Friday - The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts about the 1993 Bombay bombings. It was later made into a film in 2004 by Indian film maker Anurag Kashyap named Black Friday. Babu Janardhanan's upcoming Mammootty-starrer Malayalam film entitled 1993 Bombay, March 12 is also based on the bomb blasts.[58]

See also

References

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