India Executes Yakub Memon, Mumbai Bomb Plotter

Yakub Memon was hanged a little before 7 am this morning in a Nagpur prison, less than two hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal against his hanging in an unprecedented hearing that was held within the court premises in the middle of the night. Hours before the death, in a pre-dawn session of the Supreme Court, Justices Dipak Misra, Prafulla Chandra Pant and Amitava Roy heard Memon’s last plea for a 14-day stay on his execution to mentally prepare himself and meet with family.

The serial blasts killed 257 people, and were allegedly to avenge the killing of Muslims in riots a few months earlier.

“Yesterday the issue was of giving 14 days time, as per a Supreme court judgement, so that he can challenge the dismissal of his mercy petition in court and that he can settle his worldly affairs”.

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.

Seven members of Memon’s family flew from Nagpur to Mumbai, where he will be buried.

Trying to control the damage, Tharoor claimed he was not commenting on the merits of a specific case hinting he is not opposing Yakub’s hanging and he is against the concept of death sentence.

Executions in India are only carried out in the rarest of circumstances, but president Mukherjee has rejected a number of mercy pleas in the past three years, ending an eight-year de facto moratorium.

Memon, a chartered accountant, had left the country along with his wife just before the blasts.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool). Indian policemen stand guard in front of the building where Yakub Abdul Razak Memon’s family resides in Mumbai, India, Thursday, July 30, 2015. In an appeal to maintain peace and harmony to ensure law and order in Maharashtra, Fadnavis exercised caution as he made the statement on Memon’s death sentence after the funeral was over.

Several people, including Bollywood movie star Sanjay Dutt, have been accused of plotting or helping the conspirators.

The city resident Ashok Chaturvedi (25) was killed in Mumbai following series of blasts on March 12, 1993.

Why were “Only three persons convicted”.

Memon’s execution, which took place on his 53rd birthday, followed last-minute efforts by his legal team to delay his sentence.

“There exists no credible proof that threat of execution is more of a deterrent to crime than a prison sentence”, Amnesty India said. Then, On February 9, 2013, Afzal Guru who was the convict in the 2001 Parliament attack case was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.