What the Doctor Ordered Continues ……….

It was Dr Ansari who proposed that prestigious trains such as the Rajdhani Express and the Andhra Pradesh Express should be targeted to strike at the elite class of society travelling in such trains, so that the government felt the heat of their action.

In pursuance of this conspiracy, different modules were created to execute six blasts, which would take place in the Rajdhani Express from Delhi to Kolkata, the Rajdhani Express from Kolkata to New Delhi, the Andhra Pradesh Express from Hyderabad to New Delhi, the Flying Queen from Surat to Mumbai and the Mumbai–Kurla Express. It was unanimously decided that the explosions would go off in the early hours of 6 December 1993 (the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition).

Bombs were assembled at the residence of Dr Ansari, then taken by different sub-modules to various locations where the bombers stayed at cheap hotels under fake names. They reserved seats under assumed identities, boarded the trains as planned and planted the bombs minutes before getting off at predetermined stations. The timers of the bombs were set to detonate between 5 a.m. and 10.30 a.m.

Five of the six bombs went off as planned. The sixth bomb, which was placed in the Mumbai–Kurla Express, was detected in time and defused without causing any harm.

With the news of each explosion, panic spread amongst train passengers and railway authorities alike. Trains were stopped at the first available stations—often nondescript and remote with little infrastructure—and searched by railway police. A few passengers disembarked from their trains and ran for safety. Railway traffic and train schedules went haywire and took days to normalize.

Further, as information poured in from remote railway police stations through the nationwide police wireless network (POLNET), a sense of alarm gripped state and government authorities, including police and intelligence agencies..

To be Continued …………