Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim masterminded the Mumbai serial blasts in March 1993 which claimed the lives of nearly 250 people and left more than 700 injured. 13 serial explosions took place in Mumbai on Friday, March 12, 1993.

The blasts took place at quick intervals spanning two hours at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Kalbadevi, Shiv Sena Bhavan, Air India building at Nariman Point, Fishermen's Colony in Mahim, Worli Century Bazar, Zaveri Bazar, Hotel Sea Rock in Bandra, among other places. These were the first precisely coordinated serial explosions in our nation's history and they radically changed the way we perceived terror threats.

To the credit of the Mumbai police, they cracked the case within two days and established the involvement of the Memon family and mafia don Dawood Ibrahim in perpetrating the serial blasts as a "revenge" for the atrocities committed on the Muslims after the demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu mobs.

Memon, 53, was awarded the death sentence by a Special TADA Court in Mumbai in 2007 for his role of arranging for finances for the carrying out the serial blasts. He will be hanged on July 30 for his role in the terror blasts.

These images from the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts will take you back in history:

Mangled remains of a BEST bus gutted in serial bomb blasts, near Century bazaar, Worli.

Charred corpses and mangled remains of vehicles following the serial bomb blasts in Worli



Bodies of the blast victims lie scattered at Century Bazaar, Worli.

Firemen clear the debris at Air India building damaged during the serial blasts.

A car was destroyed by a bomb blast near a petrol pump adjacent to Sena Bhavan in Dadar.

Gamodia Mansion, a building near Century Bazaar Worli in Bombay is badly damaged by bomb blasts.

Onlookers gather to see the intensity of destruction after the blasts at Worli.

Smouldering cars and buses in the aftermath of serial blasts at Worli.

A heavy pall of smoke engulfs the area as Shivaji Park petrol pump, near Sena Bhavan, in Bombay is gutted during the serial blasts.

Police inspect an arms cache seized from a building near Sheikh Memon Street Bombay on March 24, 1993.

Police guard the RDX (a key ingredient in explosives) salvaged from the bed of Nagla Bunder in Thane Creek near Bombay on April 02, 1993.



School Children pay tribute before a memorial at Prabhadevi, Mumbai on March 12, 1998 to those who died in the serial blasts.

(With input from agencies; Image Source- Times Content)