Other important texts I referred to were the report of the Srikrishna Commission, constituted to look into the riots in Bombay in 1992-93, and the booklet Voices issued by the All India Milli Council.
The details of most of the incidents have been collected from the confessional statements of the accused, or information recorded during their depositions in the court. This relates to all the matter attributed to Badshah Khan, Hanif Kadawala, Nasir Dhakla, Asgar Mukadam, Firoz Malik, Sultan-e-Room, Dawood Phanse and the other landing agents, Baba Chauhan, Samir Hingora, Hanif Kadawala, Sanjay Dutt, Jalees Ansari, Salim Kurla, Mechanic Chacha, Usman Gani Memon and Yusuf Nulwala. In the case of Badshah Khan, there were also long and intensive interviews with him. Some of the accused however later retracted their statements. The information on the landings was gathered from the statements of the landing agents Dawood Phanse, Dadabhai Parkar, Raju Kodi and others who were involved in the smuggling activities of Tiger Memon.
It was widely reported in the media and by certain NGOs that the police had unleashed brutalities on those detained under TADA, as well as their relatives. Affidavits were filed in this regard. I have mentioned only those episodes for which there is documentary evidence. The experiences of the people arrested are gathered from the affidavits they filed in court and from newspaper reports. Khurana’s story has been verified by his former cell-mates.
The story of the Memons was difficult to reconstruct as there were no confessions and they were unwilling to talk to the press. The background information on Tiger Memon was gathered from the police chargesheet, the supplementary chargesheets, CBI dossiers on him, confessional statements, and interviews with his relatives and friends who want to remain anonymous. The information on the meeting in Dubai was gathered from various confessional statements, and interviews with customs officer Farooq Batatawala and some police informers. At least one person who was present at the meeting spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. The report of the conversation with Aziz Ahmed came from Ahmed himself. I have used three sources of information to reconstruct Yaqub Memon’s story. The first was the CBI report. The second was his statements in a Delhi court, on the Doordarshan interview Newstrack, and his few statements to newspapers and magazines. The third was the information given by his lawyer Majeed Memon and some CBI officials.
The information on Dawood Ibrahim comes from police and CBI dossiers on him, as well as interviews with a close confidant and others who have worked with him. The information on Dawood’s background and criminal record was gathered from CBI dossiers, police records, various FIRs filed against him and his associates, and court documents. The sources for the conversation between Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel in Dubai are interviews with CBI officers, some of Dawood Ibrahim’s aides and some of the accused who do not want to be identified. The information about his willingness to surrender comes from interviews with Mahesh Jethmalani, A.S. Samra and some of Dawood’s aides.
My main source of information about Sanjay Dutt was his own confessional statement. This has been reinforced by information from the statements of some of the other accused, like Hanif Kadawala and Samir Hingora, as well as CBI documents. I have also used material from newspapers and magazines covering his story, and information from an interview with Sunil Dutt.
Thapa’s story is culled from CBI documents, and from interviews with Ulhas Joshi, Raman Tyagi and Thapa himself.
The details of the police investigations into the case were reconstructed after prolonged discussions with the officers involved with the case, including A.S. Samra, Y.C. Pawar, Rakesh Maria, Arup Patnaik, Bhaskar Dangle, Nand Kumar Chougule, Ulhas Joshi and Srirang Nadgouda, among others. I have tried to verify each detail with at least two officers. Several officers of junior rank also spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. I have also heavily relied on the police records, and the dossiers prepared by the CBI. The details of the customs operations came from customs records and interviews with various officers.
The police officers were also of help in reconstructing the events of 12 March 1993. The former chief of the fire department, Durgadas Kulkarni, the head of the BDDS, Chougule, and paramedics at various hospitals also gave me valuable information, as did some stockbrokers who were trapped in the BSE after the blast.
The late Rajesh Pilot gave me time to discuss the political ramifications of the case.
With regard to details of legal proceedings, I was helped by the presiding judge Pramod Kode, and advocates Niteen Pradhan, Abbas Kazmi, Majeed Memon and Farhana Shah. I was also assisted by members of the CBI STF, especially Raman Tyagi, and media reports, especially those by Sunil Shivdasani of the Press Trust of India, Shubha Sharma of Mid-day and Pranati Mehra of the Indian Express. Former additional collector of customs, S.N. Thapa, helped me to understand several details of the story.
For the different theories regarding Yaqub Memon’s return, my information came from interviews with lawyers Shyam Keswani and Majeed Memon, CBI and police officers, and customs officer Farooq Batatawala.
The information on the explosives recovered from Tiger Memon’s compound and the hand grenades, as well as on Wah Explosives and on Ulbrichts Austria and Pakistan comes from CBI dossiers, the supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI and the document sent by the Federal Ministry of Austria to the Indian government which has been cited in the text.
The information about the Pakistani passports and Thai visas of the Memons was taken from the supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI and other CBI documents.
The stories of the victims and their families were garnered from newspaper reports and interviews by Sandeep Unnithan of India Today and Velly Thevar.
Appendix
The Srikrishna Commission
The Srikrishna Commission, headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna, was set up in 1993 to look into the riots in Bombay in December 1992 and January 1993. Its brief was to identify the people responsible and also to look into the role of the police during this period. Later this was expanded to look into the possible connections between the riots and the serial blasts of 12 March 1993. The Commission delivered its report on 16 February 1998.
One significant part of the Commission’s report dealt with the failure of the police to control the riot and the role played by some policemen in actively participating in the riots or using excessive force. On the subject of the link between the riots and the bomb blasts, the Commission concluded that ‘the former appear to have been a causative factor for the latter’. Three or four of the accused who were involved in substantive riot-related offences were also accused in the bomb blasts case. Tiger Memon and Javed Chikna had both suffered during the riots, and therefore would have had a motive for revenge. However, the Commission also stated that there was no material placed before it that suggested that the riots and the serial blasts were part of a common design. Their conclusion was that the bomb blasts were a reaction to the totality of events at Ayodhya and Bombay in December 1992 and January 1993.
TADA
The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act came into force on 23 May 1985. It gave sweeping powers to law enforcement machinery to deal with ‘terrorist’ and ‘disruptive activities’. The most important features of the law were wide definition of terrorist and disruptive activities with enhanced punishments and separate trial procedures through designated courts. TADA also altered the normal criminal trial procedure in many ways. The police were not obliged to produce a detainee before a judicial magistrate within twenty-four hours, and the accused could be remanded up to one year in police custody (whereas otherwise the maximum is ninety days). Confessions made to police officers was admissible in court as evidence and the onus of proof was on the accused, and trials could be held in camera with the identity of witnesses being kept secret. TADA had to be extended every two years by an act of Parliament.
As of 30 June 1994, the number of people arrested under TADA had crossed 76,000. The police dropped twenty-five per cent of these cases without any
charges being framed. Trials were completed in thirty-five per cent of the cases that were actually brought to trial, of which ninety-five per cent of the trials ended in acquittals. Thus, less than two per cent of those arrested were ultimately convicted.
There were complaints from various concerned groups, human rights organizations and political parties regarding the alleged abuses and ineffectiveness of TADA, and it was allowed to lapse in 1997.
Acknowledgements
In early 1997 I submitted the plot of a novel to David Davidar. Mr Davidar wrote back saying that he felt I should write non-fiction first. The topics we discussed generally veered towards the Mafiosi and crime as I was a crime reporter of some experience. Then he surprised me by asking me to write a book on the bomb blasts of 1993.
Cakewalk, I thought to myself and took the plunge. I gave myself six weeks. That was when I thought as a journalist and not as a writer. And I hadn’t reckoned with a full-time job as a journalist. The weeks soon turned to months, and as the seasons changed I realized that writing a book while fulfilling the many responsibilities of a Mumbai journalist was no joke.
Time, I needed time. Finally when the last chapter wound up and I sat back, I rediscovered that the world is full of generous people.
The most outstanding contribution to this book is CBI officer Raman Tyagi’s. He has lived with the bomb blasts case for almost a decade now. His encyclopedic knowledge has helped me to unravel many of the mysteries of the conspiracy. Without him, this book could not have existed.
And what would I have done without the unstinted support and help of Vikram Chandra, who taught me the fine art of storytelling and kept my morale high? Vikram spared time to read and comment on the manuscript, and discussed the flow of the story at various levels. Thank you Vikram for making this book a reality.
I must thank my publisher David Davidar for being patient for four years. He never cracked the whip and for that I owe him a zillion thanks. My thanks also goes to my editors, Krishan Chopra, who was supportive and maintained that I could finish the book, and Sayoni Basu.
My special thanks to my Mid-day bosses Aakar Patel and Meenal Baghel who often gave me long rope so that I could finish the book. Meenal also helped in editing some chapters when we worked together at the Indian Express. I am grateful to Aakar for permission to use pictures from the Mid-day archives. Mid-day staffer Rashid Ansari was immensely helpful in locating and compiling pictures.
Thanks also to Saisuresh Sivaswamy with whom I had initiated this project. Had he not been there, I would have given up after the initial six weeks and said no to David.
My colleagues who were generous with their time and expertise were Shubha Sharma, Sunil Shivdasani of the Press Trust of India, Prafulla Marpakwar and Pranati Mehra of the Indian Express, Deepak Lokhande of Mid-day, Rehana Bastiwala of Inquilab and above all Sandeep Unnithan of India Today, who made special efforts to trace some of the blasts victims and to whom I owe special thanks.
Friends who chipped in in their own way are Zia Abbas, Amit Rastogi and Ganesh Kumar.
I will always remain indebted to Shabana Hussain who was a pillar of strength throughout these four years. My grateful thanks to Paulette Roberts who looked at some of the chapters and took pains to edit them, and to Anuradha Tandon who pepped up my morale during dry spells.
And thanks to my very special woman, Velly Thevar, for everything, especially for making me realize that my approach to writing the book had to be stood on its head.
I extend my thanks to the Mumbai police force in general, and particularly to some distinguished police officers who contributed to the writing of this book. I received help from former Police Commissioner A.S. Samra, Joint Commissioner of Police (Retired) Y.C. Pawar, Commissioner of Railway Police Rakesh Maria, Deputy Inspector General Arup Patnaik, Inspector General Ulhas Joshi, Assistant Commissioner Nand Kumar Chougule, Inspector Pradeep Sharma, Assistant Police Inspector Srirang Nadgouda and many others.
I am also thankful to members of the Central Bureau of Investigation, especially Deputy Inspector General Satish Mathur of the Special Task Force, who read the manuscript at my request, to ensure it was factually correct in every detail.
The legal fraternity was also generous with its assistance. Advocates Abbas Kazmi, Niteen Pradhan, Majeed Memon, Farhana Shah and Subhash Kanse were an integral part of the this book. My special thanks to judge of the specially designated TADA court, Pramod Kode, who reassured and encouraged me. His support paved the way for the completion of the book.
All the characters and incidents in this book are real. Two names, however, have been changed. Badshah Khan is police witness no. 2 and according to the rulings of the judge who earlier presided over the case, J.N. Patel, his name should not be disclosed. It is he who selected this pseudonym. Catherine is also a pseudonym to protect the identity of the girl who spoke to Maria in the Al-Hussaini building and provided vital leads in the investigation.
I am thankful to several of the blasts accused who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity and gave me a proper perspective of the conspiracy. It is to the people who have helped and advised that the credit for what is accurate in these pages should be given. The mistakes are mine.
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Copyright © S. Hussain Zaidi 2002
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ISBN: 978-0-143-42366-9
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