It has been 22 years since the horrific incident, but 62-year-old Suresh More says he can never forget that Friday afternoon on March 12 when Mumbai got a bloodbath.
More, the manager of a electronic gadgets showroom in Worli, was in his showroom when a car parked outside the showroom near a BEST bus stop exploded at 2.45 pm. One of a dozen explsions that rocked Mumbai that afternoon, the Century Bazaar blast was the worst in terms of human casualty and devastation it caused. The bomb exploded when a double decker BEST bus was leaving the bus stop and bore the brunt of the explosion. It claimed 113 lives and left 227 people injured.
“I cannot forget that sight in my lifetime. That double decker bus was lying around in pieces. You can imagine what would have happened to passengers who were travelling in it. I heard a sound of big explosion and then I was unconscious for several minutes. When I opened my eyes everything was in ruins. Two of my colleagues were lying injured beside me.” said Mr More, who survived the blast.
Body parts were strewn all around the area, some landing inside the Crompton Greaves factory across the Annie Besant Road, one of the main arterial roads connecting Southern Mumbai to Central Mumbai. The asbestos roof of the factory blew away. The explosion damaged the front portion of the residential building facing the bus stop, and had to be completely rebuilt. Several residents in the flats were injured in a shower of glass shards due to the impact of the explosion.
Reacting to the execution of Yakub Memon, Mr More said, “Why the victims have to wait so long for justice? What would you call those who take pleasure in killing humans?”
Many others were not as lucky as Mr More. Recounting the horror, Sanjay Bhandari, who works in an airconditioner showroom, said “My brother was dead on the spot. I was injured too. Our shop was destroyed in that blast. I had to take loan to restart it.”
“This punishment has been given late. The perpetrators should have been punished within duration of two years. Can it be called justice if it is given after 22 years?” Mr Bhandari asked.
Just 15 minutes before the blast near Century Bazaar, a car had burst into a ball of flames near a petrol pump behind Sena Bhavan, the Shiv Sena headquarters at Shivaji Park. “My daughter had just come from her SSC examination when we heard the explosion. We ran outside as our chawl shook with the impact of the explosion.” said Smita Kadam a resident of Miranda Chawl, which was damaged in the blast. The one-storey chawl was located exactly behind the petrol pump.
As the hundreds of Shiv Sena supporters thronged the party headquarters, another explosion went off 250 metres away at the Plaza Cinemahall, a popular theatre designed to resemble a stupa established by film doyen V Shantaram.
75-year-old Sitaram Sanas was selling vegetables in a small vegetable market adjoining the compound wall guarding Plaza Theatre in Dadar. He heard a sound of big blast and saw the compound wall collapsing. Though he suffered minor injuries in the incident, the explosion killed 10 and injured 77 people. “Öh, I don’t want to recall that tragic day,” said Plaza Theatre and V Shantaram’s son, Kiran Shantaram who lost staff members of the cinemahall to the explosion.
