Wife, daughter meet Yakub Memon in Nagpur prison

NAGPUR: Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, who has sought a stay of execution of his death sentence scheduled for July 30, today spent some time with his family members, including wife and daughter, at the Central Prison here amid tight security.

Yakub's wife Rahin Memon (42), daughter Zubeda (21), accompanied by relatives Iqbal Memon and others, reached here this morning from Mumbai by train and met him in the high- security jail around 9 AM, sources said.

The family had planned to call on Yakub early this month and had already booked the train tickets on July 4, they said.

Yakub's meeting with his family members lasted for more than one hour after which they drove away in a private vehicle at around 11 AM.

On July 21, a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had rejected Yakub's curative petition, saying the grounds raised by him do not fall within the principles laid down by the apex court in 2002.

Immediately after the SC verdict, Yakub moved a mercy plea before the Maharashtra Governor.

Yakub is one of the six convicts awaiting the gallows in the prison here, where his Delhi-based lawyer Subhail Farqooq, city-based advocate Anil Gedam and cousin Usman Memon met him during this week.

Earlier in the day, the 53-year-old death row convict moved the Supreme Court seeking stay of his execution saying that all his legal remedies have not been exhausted.