25 years since the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, key conspirator Dawood Ibrahim is yet to be nabbed..
Twenty five years have passed since the fatal 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. The blasts, masterminded by fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, claimed the lives of 257 people and left over 700 grievously injured, with some of them suffering disabilities. On what are called the "most-destructive bomb explosions in the Indian history", March 12, 1993 witnessed 12 blasts at 12 different places in the city, the first of their kind in the world. In the first leg of the case trial that concluded in 2007, the TADA court had convicted 100 accused in the case, while 23 people were acquitted. In the second leg of the trial that commenced in 2007 and culminated in 2017, eleven accused including key conspirators like Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa were convicted. Last week, Farooq Takla, aide of underworld don and 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused Dawood Ibrahim, was deported from Dubai. He had fled from India after the blasts and Red Corner Notice was issued against him in 1995. With his arrest, a third leg of trial will begin in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
Following is the chronology of events in the 1993 Mumbai Serial Blasts case:
March 12, 1993: 12 explosions rock Mumbai resulting in 257 fatalities and injuries to 713 others.
April 19, 1993: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt (accused number 117) arrested.
November 4, 1993: Over 10,000 page-long primary charge sheet filed against 189 accused,
including Sanjay Dutt.
November 19, 1993: Case handed over to the CBI.
April 10, 1995: 26 accused discharged by TADA court. Charges framed against the remaining accused.
Supreme Court discharges two more accused - travel agent Abu Asim Azmi (Samajwadi Party leader) and Amjed Meher Baux.
April 19, 1995: First leg of trial commences.
September 18, 2002: Abu Salem detained in Lisbon, Portugal.
March 20, 2003: Accused Mustafa Dossa arrested by CBI at IGI Airport, New Delhi on his arrival from Dubai.
September 2003: Main trial ends. TADA court in Mumbai reserves judgement.
January 9, 2004: Charges framed against Mustafa Dossa.
November 11, 2005: Abu Salem extradited to India.
December 9, 2005: Charges framed against Abu Salem.
June 13, 2006: Abu Salem's trial separated.
September 12, 2006: TADA court judge PD Kode starts delivering the judgement, pronounces four members of the Memon family guilty, and acquits three. Later, 12 convicts were awarded death penalty while 20 were given life sentence. Other convicts were handed over different sentences.
February 2007: Main trial concludes. Second leg involving seven accused begins.
March 16, 2013 : Sanjay Dutt surrenders before court after SC upholds conviction.
March 21, 2013: Supreme Court upholds death sentence of convict Yakub Memon, brother of Tiger Memon, and commutes death sentence of 10 convicts to life term. Life imprisonment of 16 out of 18 convicts also upheld.
August 13, 2013: TADA court drops certain charges againt Abu Salem which violated the extradition treaty with Portugal.
July 30, 2015: Key conspirator and lone death row convict in the case, Yakub Memon hanged.
December 7, 2015: Final arguments of the second phase of the trial start.
June 8, 2016: Court rejects plea of accused Firoz Abdul Rashid in which he said he wants to become an approver.
March 2017: Trial concludes.
June 16, 2017: TADA court judge GA Sanap convicts six accused, including Mustafa Dossa and Abu Salem, and acquits one.
June 28, 2017: Mustafa Dossa dies of cardiac arrest in Mumbai hospital.
September 7, 2017: Court awards death sentence to Tahir Merchant and Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, life imprisonment to Abu Salem and Karimullah Khan and 10 years imprisonment to Riyaz Siddiqui.
December 5, 2017: The Supreme Court stays the execution of death row convict Tahir Merchant. After he had challenged the September 7 order of the special TADA court which had held that he was among the main conspirators.
March 8, 2018: Farooq Takla, aide of underworld don and 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused Dawood Ibrahim, gets deported from Dubai. He had fled from India after the blasts. A Red Corner Notice was issued against him in 1995.
(With Inputs From PTI)