Convicted Financier Of 1993 Mumbai Serial Bombing Hanged

It was not just the rejection of his mercy plea by President Pranab Mukherjee late Wednesday night that sealed Yakub’s fate, the final seal on his fate came at 4.50 am in Court Room 4 of the apex court which dismissed the fresh petition filed on his behalf.

Memon was executed on his 53rd birthday at the prison in western India where he had been incarcerated since 1994.

The March 12, 1993, bombings ripped through the country’s financial heart, and targeted some of the city’s key centers – the Bombay Stock Exchange, Air India offices, a state transport office, three hotels, a gas station and a movie theater.

Along with high security surrounding the execution of Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon in Maharashtra and his burial at Mumbai’s Churni Road area, the police has banned photos or videos of his body.

In an opinion piece in Scroll.in, Jyoti Punwani writes that the Supreme Court’s upholding the death sentence for the man who surrendered hoping to clear his name in the Mumbai blasts case, also draws attention to the miscarriage of justice in the preceding riots. However, death sentences of other 10 prisoners commuted to life imprisonments in 2013.

At the end of the longest-running terror trial (in India) on July 27, 2007, Yakub was convicted by the Mumbai-based TADA Court of the offence of criminal conspiracy, causing the act of terror.

Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty worldwide India, condemned the execution.

Making a statement in the House on the hanging of Yakub, Fadnavis said the execution was done after completing all judicial procedures and the convict had exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies.

Indian policemen stand guard in front of the building where Yakub Abdul Razak Memon’s family resides in Mumbai, India, Thursday, July 30, 2015.

India yesterday hanged Yakub Memon for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings, hours after the Supreme Court turned down a pre-dawn appeal, further intensifying debate on the death penalty.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court noted that Memon had been given enough time to challenge the death sentence.

Police consider Memon’s brother, “Tiger” Memon, and mafia don Dawood Ibrahim to be the masterminds behind the attacks, intended to avenge the destruction of an ancient mosque by Hindu zealots in 1992. Both have been on the run since 1993.

Eight members were charged over the attacks, all of whom denied any role in the atrocity.

Following the procedure before death penalty, Yakub was asked about his last wish.

Several people, including Bollywood movie star Sanjay Dutt, have been accused of plotting or helping the conspirators. The 1993 bomb blasts led to death of 257 people and injured at least 712 people.