Timeline of 1993 Mumbai blasts: All you need to know

Written By Research N Archives | Updated: Jun 16, 2017, 04:10 PM IST

File photo taken on March 15, 1993 shows a police officer standing beside a charred automobile outside the Air India building.

A series of 13 blasts in quick succession ripped through various locations of India's financial capital on March 12, 1993 and the suburbs killing 257 people and injuring around 700.

A special TADA court in Mumbai convicted six persons including mastermind Mustafa Dossa on Friday, and extradited gangster Abu Salem in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, 24 years after the attacks left 257 people dead.

It, however, let off one accused Abdul Quayyum, for want of evidence against him. This was the second leg of the trial.

All the seven accused were facing multiple charges which included criminal conspiracy, waging war against the Government of India and murder. In the first leg of the trial that concluded in 2007, the TADA court had convicted 100 accused in the case, while 23 people were acquitted.

Here's the timeline of 24-year-long case:

March 10, 1993	Yakub Memon and family flees from Mumbai
March 12, 1993	Series of powerful blasts rip Mumbai through 13 places killing 257 people and injuring 713
March 14, 1993	The breakthrough in the investigation is achieved with the recovery of an RDX-laden Maruti van registered in the name of Tiger Memon's sister-in-law.
March 18, 1993	First arrest: Tiger Memon's manager Asgar Mukadam held
April 19, 1993	Sanjay Dutt arrested on his return form from Mauritius on charges of illegal possession of a 9mm pistol and AK-56 rifle and ammunition
April 28, 1993	Dutt confesses about possession of arms and later destroying it
May 5, 1993	Bombay High Court (HC) grants bail to Dutt
November 4, 1993	Mumbai crime branch files a 10,000 page charge sheet naming 189 accused, including Dutt
November 19, 1993	CBI takes over the case
April 1, 1994	TADA court shifts from city sessions and civil court to a separate building on the premises of Arthur Road Jail, Byculla
April 10, 1994	26 accused discharged by TADA court; charges framed against others. Supreme Court discharges travel agent Abu Asim Azmi and Amjed Meher Baux
April 19, 1994	Trial begins
July 4, 1994	Trial court cancels Dutt’s bail, arrests him
August 5, 1994	CBI claims that Yakub has been arrested from New Delhi, however he claims he willingly gave himself up in Nepal on July 28,1994
October 14, 1994	SC grants bail to Dutt which is later cancelled by the trial court.
November 20, 1994	Dutt takes back his confession.
April-June 1995	Charges framed against accused
June 30, 1995	Two accused Mohammed Khatlab and Usman Jan Khan turn approvers
June 30, 1995	First witness of 684 examined
October 14, 1995	Dutt granted bail by SC
March 23, 1996	Judge JN Patel transferred and elevated to the Bombay HC
March 29, 1996	PD Kode takes over trial from JN Patel
July 1999	Yakub writes to India’s SC seeking relief from the case. In his letter, he says he voluntarily returned to India.
October 2000	Examination of 684 prosecution witnesses ends.
August 9, 2001	Prosecution begins arguments.
October 18, 2001	Prosecution completes arguments.
November 9, 2001	Defence begins arguments.
August 22, 2002	Defence completes arguments.
Feb-Mar 2003	Ejaz Pathan and Mustafa Dossa deported from Dubai and court decides to separate gangster Mustafa Dossa’s trial in the case.
September 2003	Trial ends. Court reserves judgement.
November 2005	Abu Salem extradited from Portugal. Trial separated. He is accused of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai.
June 13, 2006	Abu Salem’s trial separated
August 10, 2006	Judge PD Kode announces ‘September 12’ as the judgement day.
September 12, 2006	TADA court pronounced verdict. 4 members of Memon family held guilty.
November 2006	Dutt gets convicted under Arms Act and acquitted uner TADA.
May 9, 2007	Court formally acquits 23 accused
July 18, 2007	First death penalties in the case for Parvez Nazir Shaikh, Mushtaq Tarani and Abdul Gani Turk pronounced
July 31, 2007	Justice PD Kode wraps up the 14 year long case. Dutt six years rigorous imprisonment.
August 20, 2007	Dutt appeals against the sentence, moves to SC
November 1, 2011	SC begins hearing on appeals filed by Dutt and 100 other convicts as well as the state.
August 29, 2012	SC reserves its order on the appeals.
March 21, 2013	SC 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 of 18 convicts also upheld
May 16, 2013	Sanjay Dutt surrenders before the TADA court. He is later taken to Arthur Road jail. Four other convicts -- Yusuf Nulwalla, Kersi Adajania, Essa Memon, and Altaf Syed -- also surrender the same day.
May 22, 2013	Sanjay Dutt is secretly shifted to Yerawada Jail and is given qaidi number C- 16656
October 2013	Yakub Memon apply for presidential pardon
April 11, 2014	President Pranab Mukherjee rejects Yakub's mercy plea.
May 21, 2014	The mercy plea of Memon is rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee
June 2, 2014	The SC stays the execution of Memon on plea seeking review petitions in death cases to be heard in open court instead of chambers.
June 19, 2014	The CBI files a supplementary chargesheet against one of the under-trials, Feroz Rashid Khan, in order to disprove his claim of mistaken identity who claimed that his name was 'Hamza' and not Firoz Khan alias Firoz Taklya.
July 15, 2014	The SC reserves its order on the mercy plea of Memon seeking to convert penalty into life term
September 26, 2014	SC stays Memon’s execution and issues notices on his petition seeking an open court hearing of his plea for a review of the death sentence
April 9, 2015	SC bench dismisses Yakub's plea
May 2015	Yakub Memon files a curative petition seeking justice against death sentence
July 21, 2015	SC rejects Yakub's curative petition. He would be hanged on July 30, 2015
July 21, 2015	Yakub then files mercy petition to Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao. SC rejects Yakub Memon’s petition.
July 23, 2015	Memon moves the SC seeking a stay on the execution of his death sentence
July 26, 2015	270 eminent personalities including eight leading jurists and nine MPs file a plea before President Pranab Mukherjee seeking mercy and stay against execution of Yakub Memon
July 28, 2015	SC refers the petition challenging Yakub's death warrant to a three member bench following a split verdict by a two-judge bench
July 29, 2015	The three member bench rejects Yakub's plea seeking and upholds the death warrant
July 30, 2015	Yakub Memon is hanged
February 25, 2016	Dutt released from Yerwada jail.
May 29, 2017	The TADA court announces June 16 as the date for pronouncement of judgement on trial against Abu Salem and other six accused.
June 16, 2017	TADA court finds Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa and Mohammed Dossa guilty of murder and conspiracy in connection with 1993 Mumbai blast case. The court also convicts Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, and Karimullah Sheikh under charges of conspiracy and murder under sections of IPC, TADA and Explosives Act. The court convicts Tahir Merchant in the case.