Yakub Memon hanged in 1993 Mumbai blasts case

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Bringing down curtains on a protracted legal fight that saw the doors of the Supreme Court open at 3 am on Thursday, Yakub Memon was hanged at the Nagpur jail after the President of India, Governor of Maharashtra and the apex court rejected arguments against the death penalty awarded to the 1993 Mumbai blast convict.

While rejecting the fresh mercy petition late on Wednesday night, the President’s secretariat said former R&AW chief B Raman’s article saying ‘there was an understanding between Memon and the agencies for no death penalty’, was neither raised by Memon in his earlier petition nor during the trial.

Memon in his petition also said his hanging may lead to ‘communal tension’ since both at the Centre and state BJP government is in power and hanging a Muslim will send a wrong signal.

Mukherjee sought opinion from the MHA and met home minister Rajnath Singh late on Wednesday night. Singh is learnt to have advised him that ‘there are no cogent reasons for reconsideration of his fresh mercy plea”.

Mukherjee sought point-wise scrutiny on the mercy petition due to public outrage over his hanging.

The President also rejected the ground of mercy petition where Memon has said his ‘medical condition’ is not fit. In Nagpur, jail officials said Memon was hanged at 7 am sharp on Thursday, the day he turned 53. His body was later buried in Mumbai’s Bada Kabrastan, a cemetery in Marine Lines in South Mumbai. His last wish was to meet his daughter Zubeida, since that was not possible he was allowed a phone call with her on Wednesday night.