·1.28 PM: The Stock Exchange
·2.15 PM: Masjid Bunder
·2.25 PM: The Air-India Building – Nariman Point
·2.30 PM: Lucky Petrol Pump – Sena Bhavan
·2.55 PM: Regional Passport Office
·3.05 PM: Zaveri Bazaar
·3.15 PM: Plaza Cinema – Dadar
·3.20 PM: Hotel Sea Rock
·3.25 PM: Juhu Centaur
·3.35 PM: Airport Centaur
The list above is not an appointment diary; these are the places where highly explosive RDX bombs went of one after the other on Friday, The 12th Of March 1993. Within a span of three hours the city was on the run. Panic gripped citizens had no clue what hit them. Rumors were afloat; some saying that it was a Pakistani Invasion. Some, It is a chain bombing & will continue throughout the city. Pagers / Cell Phone were not yet available. Satellite television was in its infancy. Hence the state run MTNL was the only source of communication, which fell flat on its face as a result of the heavy unimagined load caused by people frantically calling each others kith & kin . And Doordarshan was the only source of televised info available. The flow of information within the Govt agencies was so poor that, the tragedy was grossly mis-reported & it added to the existing confusion.
Within the next few days it was pretty much evident that, it was a planned & systematic attack & not just “a terrorist attack”. It was aimed to kill, scare & was an attempt to hit India, where it would hurt the most, financially & economically. Hence the targets were chosen carefully.
This attack & the subsequent investigations & the long ongoing trial raise many unanswered questions like..
Why was such a horrible act executed?
Who planned it & how?
Who were the puppets who risked their lives to execute this satanic plan?
Who were the people who unselfishly helped unknown strangers, normal people who became heroes of the day?
Who were the men in uniform who responded to the call of duty in great fashion?
Who were the officials who cheated their motherland?
S.Hussain Zaidi has come out with a wonderful & comprehensively documented book , which tries to answer all these questions.
Black Friday ,The True Story of the The Bombay Bomb Blasts
Zaidi is a specialized crime reporter for Mid-Day, based in Bombay, Even tough he has an experienced past, with leading Dailies, the likes of Asian Age & The Indian ExpressAuthoring this book would not have been an easy task.
The task of getting the accused to talk to him, share & narrate their side of the story. People in the judiciary, politicians, who sometimes co-operated , sometimes acted as road blocks in parting with details. Some who readily shared, some who concealed. All this would not have been a cakewalk given the Indian red-tapisim & the clear involvement of certain govt agencies & officials in the conspiracy.
The book,about 280 pages is very smoothly paced. Information & content is just perfect for a reader who wants to get an all round information about the Bomb blasts. 30-40 pages for each phase. The Cause, The conspiracy, the execution of the blasts, the investigation & the subsequent trial.
For one like me who has been reading & seeking info about the Riots & Bomb Blasts ever since they happened, This book had very little to offer in terms of reason , magnitude & people involved . But still it had some inside information, as most of it is straight from the horse’s mouth. Some incidents, which changed the course of the investigation, how, the police cunningly got information out of the accused. Etc etc. How they stumbled upon Sanjay Dutt? Now that was sheer luck!
The root cause, which is said to revenge for the systematic attack on the Muslim community that took place in Bombay post Babri Masjid Demolition.
In one such rioting incident the office & property of smuggler & thug Abdul Razak Memon aka Tiger Memon was burnt down, he swore revenge on the Majority Hindu community. And tied up with Mafia Don Dawood Ebrahim to avenge the humiliation that he & his fellow Muslims had to bear at the hands of “Hindu India”.
“Jo bhai , Bahen ki izzat ki hifazat na kar sake use ye tofa mubark” . Dawood got this message in a parcel. They intention was clear; He was being rebuked for his inaction against the Hindus of India. Then Dawood, along with Tiger masterminded the entire conspiracy with the ISI more than willing to help.
Tiger picked up, Local Bombay Muslim guys who were in some or other way affected by the riots & brainwashed them on the path of “Jihad” & turned them into “fidayeen”.
They were then sent to pakiland for training of arms & assembling bombs
The conspiracy that followed is clearly mentioned in the book is sure to scare the wits of the reader, & sadly this is not fiction either. So you cant afford to read & forget! The Original plan as revealed in the book as per the confessions of the accused that turned approvers is shocking & chilling.
In Addition to the Bomb blasts that they managed to carry out that day, there were a few more surprises in store for Bombay that day. A Maruti van laden with RDX & AK-56 rifles was headed to-wards the BMC Headquarters & was then to proceed towards the Mantralaya , with the mission to Massacre the “Hindu” Government officials & ministers.
The sinister plan of hurling grenades at the oil refineries of Bharat Petroleum & Rashtriya Chemical Factory. Just imagine the death & destruction this would have caused if the conspirators had been successful in these maneuvers also. Total Anarchy, death & annihilation would have ruled for days together. Why these plans did not materialize? What stopped them from going ahead? Read the Book.
Zaidi, Then moves on to the Massive Man-hunt & investigation that followed. He narrates the untold heroics of the men in uniform & the people who have worked tirelessly in the days & nights after the blast, to get that vital link or clue to nail the culprits. Just so that, it does not feel this book is biased, there are a few incidents mentioned in the book, which show the police & the judiciary in poor light, the “treatment” melted out to the suspects, keeping suspects in lock-up with out trial. And the famous case where a family was arrested from the coastal town for possession of Rockets, & they actually turned out to be splinters used in the textile industry. The book is pretty balanced in approach & the author cannot be accused of bias towards any community, group or agency in any way.
Undoubtedly, the Bombay blasts were widely reported & covered both in the televised & the print media. But sadly they ended up projecting only the villains in a very heroic manner. Suddenly everyone was aware who Dawood was , who Ijaz Pathan was, & of course Tiger Memon.
None of them bothered to bring to light the people on the other side, The Right side.
Durgadas Kulkarni , The Fire Officer who perhaps had the worst day of his career , running from one blast site to another commanding a handful of fire-men who were drastically short in numbers.
DIG Rakesh Maria , who confronted a wild mob of 150-200 people hell bent on seeking revenge with the Muslims with one service revolver & one Havaldar .& then went on with his duties for 75 hours at a stretch.
Catherine (Name changed to protect identity) , the teenaged girl who volunteered information about activities of Tiger memon .
All of these unsung heroes get there due in this book
A Must Read.
