Current Affairs

Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon were the mastermind behind the serial explosions(1993), in executing the terror acts.

Judge P D Kode will give his verdict on the trial of Dawood Mohammed Phanse and Sharif Abdul Gafoor Parkar alias Dadabhai who allegedly arranged operations of arms, ammunition and explosives which arrived from Pakistan for use in the blasts.

Phanse is facing the charge of attending a conspiracy meeting in Dubai called by Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon on January 19, 1993. He is also alleged to have organised operations of arms, ammunition and explosives in Shekhadi coast in Raigad district on February 3 and 7, 1993.

Phanse is facing charges under section 3 (3) of repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) (aiding and abetting the conspiracy) and section 6 of the same Act (punishment extending from five years to life in case of exporting of provisions of Arms Act, Explosive Act and Explosive Substances Act).

Parkar is also facing similar charges under section 3 (3) of TADA (P) Act and section 6 of the same Act. He is accused to have organised landing of arms and ammunition at Shekhadi coast in Raigad district on February 3 and 7, 1993.

Additionally, Parkar is also charged with organising training in handling arms and ammunition at the order of Tiger Memon at villages Sandheri and Bhorghat in Raigad district.

Parkar is further charged with arranging meeting with customs officers by smuggling of arms, ammunition and explosives which were smuggled into the country at the beck and call of Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim.

Mumbai Police cracks 7/11 case

Mumbai Police to have cracked the July 11 serial blasts in the city's trains.

Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy said Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence was the 'mastermind' behind the terror attacks carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba with help from Students of Islamic Movement of India activists.(SIMI)

Out of the 15 people arrested in connection with the blasts the 11 are Pakistanis, who arrived in India in batches.

The conspiracy was hatched in Mumbai and adjoining areas after taking training in Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

The Commissioner said the main players behind the blasts are Faizal Sheikh, Kamaluddin Ansari and Ehtasham Siddiqui, state general secretary of SIMI.

Two of the Pakistanis had come through Nepal reaching Mumbai around May 25. The second group had come via Bangladesh after spending some time in Kolkata while another separate group of four people had come through the Gujarat border.

They were kept in separate places in Mumbai. Faizal Sheikh, a local, had rented houses for them one in Malad and four in Bandra in Mumbai.

About 15 to 20 kg RDX was used in the blasts, which was brought from Pakistan by one Ehsanullah. Ammonium nitrate, which was mixed with RDX, was provided by local groups. The bombs were put together in Chembur by Mohammad Ali around July 8 to 10.

The bombs were kept in Faizal's home in Bandra from where they were transported to the Railway Stations in taxis. The bombs were kept in eight pressure cookers of five litre capacity, which were bought from two shops.

Each bomb contained two to 2.5 kg of RDX and 3.5 to four KG of ammonium nitrate. The pressure cookers were kept inside bags which were kept near things like newspapers and umbrellas.

"It was a professional, precise and well-planned operation," he said.

The police commissioner said that the first clue received by the police was a phone call made from Navi Mumbai to a place along the Indo-Nepal border. Due to this, police arrested the prime suspect Kamaluddin Ansari from Madhubani in Bihar.

Faizal Sheikh told police he had received around Rs 60 lakh from Pakistan during the last few years, Roy said, adding that police recovered 26,000 Riyals from his house, which he received from one Rizwan Devra, an ISI operative living in Saudi Arabia.

The news of coordinated bomb blasts in Mumbai eight in total at the peak hour when commuters were returning home at days end had shocked the world. This is not the first time that terrorists had targeted Mumbai, which is the financial nerve center of India. This cosmopolitan city is also home to Bollywood, TV stations, and entertainment industries.

This is not the first time that terrorists had targeted Mumbai. The city was rocked with bombs in 1993, 2002, and 2004. The latest attack took place at about 6:00 pm on July 11, 2006 and lasted for about 30 minutes when eight separate bombs all targeting rush hour commuters’ train went off resulting in the death of nearly 200 people and injuring hundreds of passengers.

Investigations into the Mumbai blasts are gaining momentum.

Eleven of the 285 people rounded up in Mahim have been detained. They were rounded up in a search operation conducted by over 400 policemen.

Statements of 350 blasts victims have already been recorded by the Mumbai police.

Nearly 25 eyewitnesses have come forward to offer descriptions of 'suspicious' looking persons present at the Churchgate station before the blasts. Among the eyewitnesses are stockbrokers and doctors.

Intelligence agencies have confirmed that the explosive used in the serial blasts in Mumbai's suburban trains is not the deadly RDX but ammonium nitrate.

A top Mumbai police officer told that laboratory tests performed on nearly a dozen samples collected from seven blast sites show that the explosive used was not RDX.

Done by Yash Agarwal