Revisiting Mumbai Blasts of 1993, An Event That Shook India

The serial blasts were coordinated and timed to happen across Mumbai, at some of its most crowded areas.

The Bombay Stock Exchange Building after the blast. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

It was literally a Black Friday. 12 March 1993, 12 blasts – one after another – rocked the commercial capital of India. The city had been hit by riots, only three to four months before, in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The serial blasts rocked a city that was trying to overcome the scars of a communal divide.

The blasts shocked the entire nation. That was amply reflected in the headlines in newspapers on the following day. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

In the 12 blasts between 1:28 pm to 3:40 pm, 258 people were left dead and 700 injured.

Loss of Precious Lives

Here's How the Horror Panned Out:

1.29 pm

Mumbai Stock Exchange Building, 84 dead, 217 injured

2.15 pm

Narsi Natha Street (Masjid Bunder), 5 dead, 16 injured

2.30 pm

Near Shiv Sena Bhawan, 4 dead, 16 injured

2.33 pm

Air India Building, 20 dead, 87 injured

2.45 pm

Century Bazar, 113 dead, 227 injured

2.50 pm

Mahim Causeway, 3 dead, 6 injured

3.05 pm

Zaveri Bazar, 17 dead, 57 injured

3.10 pm

Sea Rock Hotel (Bandra), No Casualties

3.13 pm

Plaza Cinema, Dadar, 10 dead, 37 injured

3.20 pm

Juhu Centaur Hotel, 3 injured

3.30 pm

Outside Sahar AIrport (Grenades Hurled), No Casualties

3.40 pm

Airport Centaur Hotel, 2 dead, 8 injured

It was a bloodbath, and panic gripped Mumbai, even if it was only for a day. The next day, Mumbai limped back to normalcy and the Mumbai Police cracked the case in 48 hours. However, masterminds of the carnage, gangsters Dawood Ibrahim & Tiger Memon had already fled India.

The court trial went on for 13 years, 100 people were convicted. Nearly 22 years after the blast, Yakub Memon, the brother of Tiger Memon and co-conspirator, was hanged to death.

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam