Khushi Thapa, Mumbai Uncensored, 13th July, 2022:
It has been 13 years since Mumbai, the city of dreams went through a tragic nightmare. Within just 11 minutes, three bomb explosions shook the capital of Maharashtra killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 125 others.
Between 6:54 and 7:05 pm, three coherent bomb explosions in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazar, Opera House, and Dadar neighborhoods sparked havoc and disaster. Days and hours were marked by the tragic deaths of 26 innocent civilians and the injury of an additional 130 others. It jolted India.
Zaveri Bazaar, one of Mumbai’s busiest areas, encountered the first explosion at 6:54 p.m when the bomb was planted on a motorcycle.
The second target of the bomb blast was Opera House, where the bomb was hidden in a lunch box, which exploded at 6:55 pm.
The third device was placed on an electric pole at the bus stand near a school in Dadar and exploded at 7:06 pm
Thereafter, efforts were made to bring the heinous perpetrators to justice. The concerns about who was responsible for the brutal attacks and why those three targets were picked were more prevalent. There was a media scramble to learn more information on anything from the Indian Mujaheddin’s involvement to the Taliban’s plot hatched in the Mumbai underworld to the Kashmir connection to the explosions.
On January 23, 2012, the Mumbai Police declared that the case had been resolved with the capture of two young guys from the Darbhanga area of Bihar. Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaq Sheikh (23) and Naqi Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Sheikh were the people that were arrested (22). The co-founder of the Indian Mujaheddin, Yasin Bhatkal, was identified as the attack’s mastermind by the Mumbai Police’s ATS section.
The Maharastra ATS filed a charge sheet against Nadeem Shaikh, Naqee Ahmed, Haroon Naik, and Kanwar Pathrija in May 2012. The charge sheet also included the names of Yasin Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Tehseen Akhtar, Waqas Ibrahim Sad, Danish, and Muzaffar Kolah, a resident of Dubai. Abdul Mateen Fakki was captured by Mumbai ATS in July 2014 at the Dabolim Airport in Goa, after he had arrived from Dubai.
The mastermind behind the cowardly attack Yasin Bhatkal had already been sentenced to death in 2016 in connection to the 2013 Hyderabad blasts. 11 years later, the prosecution of these accused had not made much progress and the case still continues due to the accused being lodged at different prisons on different charges, besides being accused for the bomb blasts.
