RDX, Grenades, Suitcase Bombs Used in 1993 Bombay Blasts: What Happened on March 12, 1993

Mumbai, on March 12, 1993, known as Bombay then was rocked by 12 explosions in different parts of the city resulting in 257 fatalities and more than 700 were injured.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Shubhang Chauhan

Updated: September 7, 2017, 2:44 PM IST

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1993 Bomb Blast

New Delhi, September 7: A special TADA Court (Terrorist and Disruptive Activity) on Thursday sentenced two of the six convicts, including Abu Salem, life imprisonment and awarded death penalty to two others in the 1993 Bombay bomb blast case. The fifth convict Riyaz Siddiqui has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The six convict Mustafa Dosa died before the verdict on the quantum of punishment. All six accused were found guilty by TADA court in 1993 Mumbai blast case on June 16.

Mumbai, on March 12, 1993, known as Bombay then was rocked by 12 explosions in different parts of the city resulting in 257 fatalities and more than 700 were injured. Property worth Rs 27 crore was destroyed.

Sequence of events on March 12, 1993: 

• The first bomb exploded at 1.30 pm in the basement of Bombay Stock Exchange building.
• At 2.15 pm a bomb exploded at Katha Bazar, Masjid Bandar.
• At 2.30 pm a bomb exploded at a petrol pump opposite Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar.
•  At 2.33 pm car bomb exploded in the basement of Air India building.
• 2.45 pm Fisherman colony and Mahim causeway.
• Again at 2.45 pm bomb exploded at Century Bazar. Here a bus ran over the explosives.
• At 3 pm in Zaveri Bazar a scooter filled with RDX exploded.
• At 3.15 pm bomb exploded at Plaza Cinema in Dadar.
• At 3.20 pm Hotel Juhu Centeaur was rocked by the blast.
• Hotel Airport Centeaur was rocked by the blast at 3.40 pm which claimed two lives and left more than 5 injured.

Why did it happen:

On December 6, 1992, Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished and in order to take revenge Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim hatched a conspiracy.

Material used in 1993:

RDX: As per reports, more than  3,000 kgs of RDX had landed in India much before the bombing took place. Hotel

Suit Case bombs: Sea Rock, Hotel Juhu Centaur, and Hotel Airport Centaur were targeted by suit case bombs.

Grenades: It was hurled at Fisherman colony to target people and was also used at Sahar International Airport.

Later, during the police investigation, more than 2,000 kg of RDX, more than 1000 kgs of gelatine, 63 AK-56 rifles, 496 hand-grenades, and 38000 rounds of live rounds of AK-56, and 9mm was seized from different parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra state.