On Monday, city will observe the 21st anniversary of the August 2003 Mumbai bombings in which two huge bombs exploded at the city’s iconic Gateway of India and the busy jewellery market Zaveri Bazaar, leaving 54 dead and another 180 injured
A bomb placed in a taxi parked near Gateway of India's entrance exploded on August 25, 2003, at 1.10 pm. File pic
On Monday, Mumbai will observe the 21st anniversary of the August 2003 terror attacks in which two huge bombs exploded at the city’s iconic Gateway of India and the thriving jewellery market Zaveri Bazaar, leaving 54 dead and another 180 injured.
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However, it was not the first terror attack that took place in India’s financial capital that year as three other incidents of bomb explosions had rocked Mumbai on January 27, March 13, and July 28 in 2003.
January 27
A bomb kept on a bicycle near the busy Vile Parle train station went off around 8.30 pm, killing one person and injuring 28 others. The station area also houses a huge market and several shops and was extremely crowded on the fateful Monday evening. The incident took place a day before the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was scheduled to visit Mumbai.
The crude bomb explosion ripped through an autorickshaw near Dinanath Sabhagraha, severely injuring a woman, who later died at Nanavati hospital. The explosion was so powerful that many suffered injuries owing to the splinters that flew from the rickshaw.
March 13
A bomb placed between exploded on a train near Mulund railway station around 7. 45pm on March 13, killing 10 people – four female and six male passengers – while 70 others were injured in the blast. According to the police, the bomb was placed between the women’s first class compartment and the general compartment. Two of the victims were women police constables.
The probe officers found a link between the January and March terror attacks and 17 people were arrested in the two cases.
In 2016, a special court convicted 10 people: Anwar Ali Khan, Ateef Mulla, Farhaan Khot, Ghulam Kotal, Hasib Mulla, Mohammed Kamil, Muzammil Ansari, Noor Malik, Saquib Nachan, and Wahid Ansari in the case under various offences, including ‘preparing to wage a war against the country’. The accused were sentenced from 10 years to life imprisonment
Muzammil Ansari and Farhaan Khot were sentenced to life in jail while the rest were awarded 10 years. However, as they had already served eight years as under trials, they only had to spend two more years in jail.
Last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Nachan and his son in the ISIS terror module case.
July 28
Four people died after a bomb placed under a seat of a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus exploded around 9.15pm on the busy Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg in Ghatkopar. Thirty-two people were also injured in the incident. Among the victims were a motorcyclist who was riding behind the bus and a woman in a rickshaw which was plying near the bus.
The High Court upheld the death penalty of three accused in the case. The other three accused were discharged while on turned an approver. Ashrat Ansari, one of the convicted people, died in a hospital after he fell ill in a Nagpur jail. The other two convicted people are Hanif Sayed Anees and his wife Fahmida.
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