The 1993 Bombay bombings was a series of 12 terrorist bombings in Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, on 12 March 1993. The single-day attacks resulted in 257 fatalities and 1,400 injuries. The bombings took place in the aftermath of the Bombay riots, which themselves had followed the demolition of the five-century-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by a Hindutva mob. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, leader of the Mumbai-based international organised crime syndicate D-Company.
On 21 March 2013, the Supreme Court of India, after 20 years of judicial proceedings, upheld the death sentence against suspected ringleader Yakub Memon while commuting the death sentences of 10 others to life imprisonment. Two main suspects in the case, Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, have not been arrested or tried. After India's three-judge Supreme Court bench rejected his curative petition, saying the grounds he raised did not fall within the principles laid down by the court in 2002, Yakub was executed by the Government of Maharashtra on 30 July 2015.
Background
In December 1992 and January 1993, widespread riots occurred in India following the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a five-century-old mosque, in Ayodhya, by a Hindutva group. Some of the most notable riots occurred in Mumbai. Five years after the December–January riots, the Srikrishna Commission report found that 900 individuals had died and over 2,000 had been injured.
On 9 March 1993, three days before the bombings took place, a small-time criminal from the Bombay slum of Behrampada named Gul Noor Mohammad Sheikh (aka "Gullu" or "Yahya") was detained at the Nagpada police station. Gullu was one of the 19 men handpicked for weapons training by Tiger Memon, a silver smuggler whose office was burnt in the riots. Tiger became chief mastermind of the bombings and for training in the use of guns and bomb-making.
Gullu had been sent to Pakistan via Dubai on 19 February 1993 and upon completion of his training returned to Mumbai on 4 March. In his absence, the police detained Gullu's brothers to encourage him to surrender, which he did. 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, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and the Shiv Sena Bhavan. However, his conspiracy claim was dismissed by the police as a "mere bluff". Gullu's arrest advanced the date of the bombings which had originally been planned to coincide with the Shiv Jayanti celebrations in April 1993.
Bombings
At 13:30 on 12 March 1993, a powerful car bomb exploded in the basement of the Bombay Stock Exchange building. The 28-storey office building was severely damaged and many nearby office buildings also suffered damage. Reports indicate that 50 were killed by this explosion. About 30 minutes later, another car bomb exploded in front of the Mandvi branch of Corporation Bank. From 13:30 to 15:40, a total of 12 bombs exploded throughout Mumbai. Most of the bombs were car bombs, but some had been planted in scooters.
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. Banks, the regional passport office, the Air India Building, and a major shopping complex were also hit. Bombs exploded at Zaveri Bazaar and opposite it, a jeep-bomb exploded at the Century Bazaar. Grenades were thrown at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and at Fishermen's Colony, apparently targeting certain citizens at the latter. A double-decker bus was very badly damaged in the deadliest explosion, with as many as 90 people killed.
The locations attacked were:
- Fishermen's Colony in Mahim Causeway
- Zaveri Bazaar, Fort
- Plaza Cinema, Dadar
- Century Bazaar
- Katha Bazaar
- Hotel Sea Rock
- Terminal at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
- Air India Building
- Hotel Juhu Centaur
- Hotel Airport Centaur
- Worli
- Bombay Stock Exchange Building, Fort
- Passport Office
- Plaza cinema
For several years, there was confusion about whether there were 12 or 13 blasts. This was because after the bombings Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister of Maharashtra had stated on the DD National television channel that there had been 13 blasts. He later admitted to the Srikrishna Commission that he provided such inaccurate information on purpose and that there had been only 12 blasts, none of them in Muslim-dominated areas. He said that he added the name of Masjid Bunder, a Muslim-dominated locality, and said that it was a move to prevent communal riots by portraying that both Hindu and Muslim communities in the city had been affected adversely.
He also confessed that he wrongly informed the public that the blasts could have been the work of the LTTE, a Sri Lankan militant organization, when in fact intelligence reports had already confirmed Mumbai's underworld (D-Company) was the perpetrator of the serial blasts.
Aftermath
The official number of fatalities was 257 with 1,400 others injured (some sources reported that 317 people died; this difference is partly due to a bomb which killed 45 in Calcutta on 16 March and was not part of 12 March Bombay bombings).
The bombings caused a major rift within D-Company, the most powerful criminal organisation in the Mumbai underworld, headed by Dawood Ibrahim. Infuriated at the bombings, Ibrahim's right-hand man, Chhota Rajan, split from the organisation and took most of the leadership-level Hindu aides with him, including Sadhu, Jaspal Singh and Mohan Kotiyan. Rajan's split divided the Bombay underworld along communal lines and pitted Chhota 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 continued into 2017. Seven of the accused (Salim Kurla, Majeed Khan, Shakil Ahmed, Mohammed Jindran, Hanif Kadawala, Akbar Abu Sama Khan, and Mohammed Jabir Abdul Latif) were assassinated by Rajan's hitmen.
The three hotels targeted in the bombings suffered significant damage. The Sea Rock Hotel in Bandra remained closed following the attack and was later demolished; the site was subsequently acquired by Taj Hotels for redevelopment. The Juhu Centaur Hotel was repaired and continued operations as the Tulip Star Hotel before closing and later being demolished for redevelopment for a residential complex. The Airport Centaur Hotel was also repaired but was subsequently rebranded as the Sahara Star after being acquired by Sahara Group.
Arrests, convictions and verdict
Hundreds of people were arrested and detained in India. In 2006, 100 of 129 accused were convicted by Justice P. D. Kode of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) special court. Many of those convicted have eluded custody, including the mastermind of the attacks, Tiger Memon.
On 12 September 2006, the special TADA court convicted four members of the Memon family on charges of conspiring and abetting acts of terror. They faced jail terms from five years to life imprisonment, that would be determined based on the severity of their crime. Three other members of the Memon family were acquitted with the judge giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Yakub Memon was charged with possession of unauthorised arms. After the bombings, family members of Tiger Memon, including Yakub, escaped to Dubai and Pakistan. Correspondents said Tiger owned a restaurant in Mumbai and was allegedly closely associated with Dawood Ibrahim, the main suspected mastermind. Except for Tiger and Ayub, the entire family returned to India and was promptly arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1994. Yakub was later taken into custody and was undergoing treatment for depression. The Memon family was tried in court and found guilty of conspiracy. The defence lawyers asked for leniency in the sentencing and caused delays in the process. Yakub was executed by hanging in Nagpur Central Jail at 6:35 a.m. IST on 30 July 2015. Two of the accused, Mohammed Umar Khatlab and Badshah Khan (a pseudonym given by the prosecution to hide his real identity), turned state informers.
In February 2007, prosecutors asked for the death penalty for 44 of the 100 convicted. The prosecution also requested the death penalty for those convicted of conspiracy in the case. Asghar Yusuf Mukadam and Shahnawaz Qureshi, who were found guilty of involvement in the bombings pleaded for leniency, claiming that they were not terrorists and were emotionally driven to participate in the act. Mukadam claimed that the main conspirators took advantage of his "frame of mind" after the Demolition of the Babri Masjid and the subsequent riots, alleging police partiality during the riots. "Vested interests" instigated him to act as he did. Qureshi was trained in Pakistan to handle arms and ammunition. He and Muquddam parked the explosive-filled vehicle at Plaza cinema which resulted in 10 deaths and 37 injuries. Qureshi reached Pakistan via Dubai, where he claims he was taken "under the pretext of providing ... an alternative job". He claimed his house was set on fire during the riots.
Some of the conspirators who managed to flee India after the bombings were arrested and extradited to India. These conspirators were declared absconders during the trial. Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Firoz Khan, Taher Merchant, Riyaz Siddiqui, Karimullah Khan, and Abdul Kayoum amongst others were arrested and the trial continued against these absconders in a special TADA court in Mumbai. Ujjwal Nikam who was earlier the Special Prosecutor in these cases was replaced by Deepak Salvi to continue with the trial in the light of the subsequent developments. On 16 June 2017 gangsters Mustafa Dossa and Firoz Khan were found guilty of conspiracy, which can carry the death penalty. On 26 June 2017, Dossa died of cardiac arrest in a Mumbai Hospital. Kayoom Sheikh was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Memons
- Yakub Memon was held in prison beginning in 1994. He was convicted of conspiracy: arranging and financing training and purchasing vehicles used for the bombings. He was sentenced to death in July 2007 and was executed by hanging on 30 July 2015 at 6:35 a.m. IST at Nagpur Jail.
- Isa and Yusuf Memon, brothers of Yakub, were both charged with using their residence to host conspiracy meetings and store arms and explosives. Yusuf also provided his van to plant bombs. Isa was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2006. Yusuf, a chronic schizophrenia patient, was also sentenced to life imprisonment. As of 2015, both were in Harsul Central Jail in Aurangabad. Yusuf died of a heart attack on 26 June 2020.
- Rubina Memon, sister-in-law of Yakub and wife of Suleman. Her Maruti car was the first piece of evidence in the trial. She was convicted of allowing the use of her vehicle to deliver explosives and received a life sentence.
- Yakub's brother Suleman, his wife Raheen, and his mother Hanifa were acquitted by a judge.
Bomb planters
The prosecution had sought the death sentence for all of the following except Imtiaz Ghavate. As he is HIV positive, the prosecution sought a lesser sentence for him.