Yakub's body handed over to family, tight security in Mumbai
Nagpur/Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI): The body of Yakub Memon, who was hanged in Nagpur this morning for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, was handed over to his family which flew it to Mumbai for last rites amid tight security with city police disallowing any procession.
Security has been stepped up in Mumbai, especially in Mahim area where Yakub's family resides as well as other sensitive localities of the metropolis, and over 400 people have been detained as a preventive measure.
Yakub Memon's brothers Suleiman and Usman
Quick Response Teams of police, formed after the 26/11 terrorist attacks, have been deployed at a few places, including the Al Hussaini building where the Memon family lives and in Marine Lines, where the burial arrangements have been made.
"Yes Yakub Memon has been hanged at 7 AM sharp and his body is being handed over to his family," Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. Yakub's brother Suleiman and cousin Usman, who were camping in Nagpur since yesterday, received the body which was taken to airport and flown to Mumbai. The two boarded the same flight.
Suleiman had moved an application last evening to the Nagpur jail authorities requesting that the body be handed over to the family. The request was accepted and accordingly, the body was wrapped in 'kafan' (shroud) and placed in a tightly sealed coffin box.
Mumbai Police has not allowed Yakub's family to carry the body in a procession and has made arrangements to perform the burial at a cemetery in Marine Lines, where heavy police force has been deployed.
"We have not permitted Yakub's family to reach the cemetery in any procession taking into account law and order situation and only those very close to the family would be taking part in his last rites," a senior police officer said.
"We have already gathered personal details of the people who would be with Yakub's family," he added. Since Yakub's father Abdul Razzak and some other family members were buried at the Marine Lines cemetery, Yakub's family has wished to perform his last rites there, another police officer said.
Alternative arrangements have also been made for burial at the Mahim cemetery, he said.
"We are monitoring and reviewing the security arrangements regularly," Mumbai Police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni said.
Mumbai Police have detained nearly 405 people as a preventive measure to maintain law and order in the wake of Yakub's hanging. "All the people who are detained are on police record, who might disturb the communal harmony or create disturbance in the city," said DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni.
Police are also keeping a close eye on any inflammatory statement by religious or political leaders and have warned of strict action against anyone violating law. The burial will take place in a Muslim cemetery after the usual last prayer 'Namaj-e-Janaja' later today.
Tight security arrangements were made in and around the Central Prison in Nagpur. Quick Response Teams were deployed and authorities also clamped section 144 of CrPC (unlawful assembly) last evening.
A large number of onlookers gathered at some distance outside the jail. Yakub was hanged till death in the 'Fansi Yard' under supervision of Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai.
A team of doctors declared him dead after about half-and-hour of the scheduled hanging, when his body was brought down.
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Nagpur M M Deshpande was present in the Fansi Yard.
She read out the operating part of the TADA court order which awarded capital punishment to Yakub before he was made to stand on a stool and the lever pulled by the hangman.
Yakub, who was the lone convict sent to gallows in the serial blasts which claimed 257 lives across the financial capital of country in 1993, lost a series of legal battles for stay on his execution.
Earlier Update
Nagpur/Mumbai, Jul 30 (IANS): Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, convicted in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was hanged till death at Maharashtra's Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday morning, officials said.
He was sent to the gallows -- on his 54th birthday on Thursday -- after several of his court appeals and clemency petitions were rejected by various courts, including the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra governor and the president of India.
Memon was hanged at 6.35 a.m. A medical team at the jail pronounced him dead a short while later, at 7.01 a.m.
Later, his body was sent for an autopsy in the jail hospital by a medical team from a Nagpur government hospital, before being cleared for the last rites.
Initially, the jail authorities were not inclined to hand over the body and planned to perform the last rites in an isolated spot in the jail campus.
After the hanging, Memon's brother Sulaiman submitted an application to the jail authorities, demanding handing over of the body to enable them perform the last rites in Mumbai.
The request was immediately processed and permission - with stringent conditions - was granted and the body handed over.
It was taken to Nagpur airport and flowing in an air ambulance for the funeral rites scheduled on Thursday evening.
Mumbai police have deployed tight security in Mahim area where the Memon's home is located and at other sensitive places in the city and the state.
Chief Minister Devednra Fadnavis will make a statement in the Maharashtra Legislature later in the day.
The legal battle continued till barely a few hours before his hanging.
Heavy police security outside Yakub Memon's residence in Mumbai
Memon was the first -- and only convict out of 100 in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case -- whose hanging was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The death sentence of 11 others was commuted to life.
A Mumbai Special Court had sentenced him to death in July 2007.
The death warrant was issued by a Special TADA Court judge on April 29, scheduling the execution for July 30.
Maharashtra had started preparations for the noose for Memon almost three weeks ago.
Memon filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court, followed by a clemency plea with the Maharashtra governor, again a fresh plea in the apex court and a final appeal with the president of India.
He got no relief from any quarters, paving the way for his execution.
The Supreme Court early Thursday rejected a last ditch attempt by him to delay his execution.
Post midnight on Thursday, the apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Prafulla C. Pant and Justice Amitava Roy rejected Memon's plea seeking 14 days' time before the execution of his death sentence is carried out.
Four hours before execution, Memon woke up SC one last time
Jul 30 (The Hindu) : At 3:17 a.m. on the day of his execution, Yakub Memon woke up the Supreme Court to hear him for one last time in an unprecedented early morning hearing in the highest court's long history.
And this time, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case told a quickly assembled Bench that he accepts himself as a condemned man, but only wanted to live for another 14 days so that he "could make his peace with God and settle his earthly affairs before leaving this world."
At 10 minutes to 5 a.m., hardly a couple of hours before his execution, the Bench held that Memon had enjoyed "ample opportunities" before the apex court, filed an abundance of petitions and any further leeway to him would be a "travesty of justice".
Justice Misra, who led the Bench comprising of Justices Prafulla C. Pant and Amitava Roy, asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi whether Memon's family was allowed to meet him.
"They are there now," Mr. Rohatgi said.
The AG said the Maharashtra Governor rejected Memon's mercy plea at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday. The President received his mercy plea at the Secretariat at 2 p.m. and rejected it at 10 p.m.
"He was informed of both rejections," Mr. Rohatgi submitted.
High drama started late in the night when a group of lawyers filed a petition in the apex court in Memon's name on the ground that a minimum 14 days elapse between mercy rejection and execution was needed.
Come midnight, Supreme Court Registrars converged at the Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu's residence to convene a Bench to hear this petition.
At a quarter to 2 a.m., the CJI decided to let the Bench headed by Justice Misra to hear the matter. It had only been a few hours since the same Bench dismissed Memon's plea to stay his execution on his birthday.
Outside Justice Misra's residence, the lawyers were told to go to the Supreme Court where the matter would be heard in open court at 2.30 am.
In Court 4, lights were switched on as security personnel sounded the red alert inside the Supreme Court complex and a heavy posse cordoned off the area from outside.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi was also summoned, after which the hearing started with senior advocate Anand Grover supported by other advocates such as Prashant Bhushan, Yug Choudhry, and Brinda Grover saying they have sought the reprieve of 14 days as a "substantive right". Mr. Choudhary asked why the "government is hell bent on executing him today."
When his turn came, AG countered that Memon was "simply abusing the system" by knocking on the Supreme Court's doors again and again.
"Judicial process got over at 4.30 pm today, but here we are again. Repeated mercy petitions will be filed and there will be repeated petitions for 14 days reprieve," AG argued.
He said the first mercy petition in the case was dismissed on April 11, 2014 and Memon had sufficient notice of 16 months before his execution. He said Memon was served the death warrant 17 days prior to his execution, whereas the minimum requirement is only 14 days.
In the order, the bench said the execution was "inevitable" after rejection of the mercy petitions.
"The President rejected after due consideration of all relevant facts... 22 yeras have passed since the incident... there is no error in judgments passed by this court,"Justice Misra said, dismissing Memon's last appeal before the Supreme Court.