President Pranab Mukherjee rejects Yakub Memon's fresh mercy petition, Supreme Court clears legal hurdles for hanging

NEW DELHI: Barring any last-minute reprieve, Yakub Memon, the lone death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, will be hanged tomorrow with President Pranab Mukherjee tonight rejecting his fresh mercy plea on advice of government and the Supreme Court earlier clearing all legal hurdles.

In a late night development, Yakub's lawyers made another last ditch attempt to save him from the gallows when they moved the Supreme Court seeking stay of his hanging.

The petition pleaded that an order be passed that authorities should give Yakub at least 14 days time for execution after the rejection of his mercy petition as per the apex court's guidelines.

Memon's hanging is scheduled for 7 am in Nagpur Central Prison on his 53rd birthday as per the TADA court's order even as prison sources said preparations were completed to carry out the execution amid tight security.

As suspense mounted on a day of fast paced developments on the fate of the chartered accountant and his lawyers making last ditch attempts to get a reprieve, President Mukherjee's decision came after he held consultations with Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The confabulations at Rashtrapati Bhavan lasted over two hours after which the President took the decision to reject the petition that was filed by Yakub. Home Secretary L C Goyal and Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar also joined in the discussions.

In Mumbai, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao also rejected Memon's mercy plea filed last week.

Holding that there was "no legal fallacy" and "fault" in the death warrant issued against Yakub in the blasts that killed 257 people and injured hundreds, the apex court said his last legal remedy by way of curative petition was "correctly" dismissed by the three senior-most judges.