Yakub Memon to Hang On July 30 for India’s Deadliest Terror Attack

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, July 21, 2015: Terrorist Yakub Memon will be hanged on July 30 for his role in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, India’s worst terror attack, after the Supreme Court today refused to reconsider his execution.

Memon, a well-spoken accountant, will be the first to be executed for the deadly attack in which over 250 people were killed.

53-year-old Memon was found guilty in 2007 of financing the 13 blasts that shook India’s financial capital. He has been in jail for two decades. His brother Essa and Yusuf and sister-in-law Rubina were all convicted of involvement in the blasts.

"Yakub could be hanged in the Nagpur jail or in Pune’s Yerwada jail," said Nagpur Jail superintendent Yogesh Desai.

Yakub Memon’s brother Ibrahim or Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim, the other alleged masterminds of the attacks, have been on the run since 1993. A judge described the three as the "architects of the blasts". The Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of the national carrier Air India and the luxury Sea Rock hotel were among the targets.

The massive attack was followed by a very slow trial that ended over a decade later, angering the families of victims.

Indian investigators say the plotters were helped by Pakistan’s intelligence service, a charge denied by Islamabad.

Actor Sanjay Dutt is serving a four year sentence in jail after being convicted for buying weapons from those accused in the blasts.

Yakub Memon’s was the only mercy petition to be rejected. The sentence of the other 10 people convicted for the blasts has been commuted to life in prison.

Memon’s appeals against his execution were rejected all the way to the Supreme Court and also by the President.

Sources say the date and time of execution has been approved by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. His family members have also been informed, which is the procedure, say sources in the government.

Memon, who is known to be well-educated, had challenged his death sentence on the grounds that while he could be held guilty of conspiracy, he was not involved in executing the blasts that led to death of people.

 

Courtesy: NDTV