At 7 am on July 30 Yakub Memon is likely to be hanged in Nagpur Central Jail provided the Supreme Court turns down his mercy plea on July 21. This will be the first execution in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
The Supreme Court had rejected Memon’s review petition on April 9 to commute his death sentence to a life term. In his plea, Memon had pointed out that he had already spent more than 20 years in prison––longer than the 14-year life imprisonment sentence, thereby urging for clemency.
The Supreme Court, however, showed none, upholding the judgement pronounced by a Mumbai trial court two years ago. After that, Memon had moved a curative petition in the apex court which is expected to come up on July 21.
Even President Pranab Mukherjee turned down Memon’s mercy plea last year.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the Maharashtra Government has began proceedings for his execution after obtaining permission from the TADA court.
The decision on the review petition is expected on July 21. On our side, we have started the procedure. The order for the execution of Yakub was issued on Monday and sent to the superintendent of the Nagpur prison. The prison will prepare the entire procedure of the execution.
– A home department official to Hindustan Times
Yakub, who was a chartered accountant before he was arrested, is the brother of fugitive terror mastermind Ibrahim Mushtaq ‘Tiger’ Memon. It was Tiger who got Yakub involved in the planning and plotting of the Mumbai serial blasts that killed 257 people and injured 700 on March 12, 1993.
The attack was orchestrated under the supervision of D-Company, headed by Tiger’s boss and the most wanted man in India – Dawood Ibrahim.
Yakub was sentenced to death by TADA court in 2007 after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy and for arranging finances and managing its disbursement through the co-accused in the Mumbai serial blasts case.
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