The Mumbai Police on Friday distanced themselves from a news report that stated the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind Tiger Memon had called up his family in Mumbai hours before Yakub Memon was hanged to death and vowed to avenge his younger brother’s execution.
Reacting to a news report published in a leading financial daily, Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhananjay Kulkarni denied that the Mumbai police were in the possession of an intercepted conversation between Tiger Memon and his family members in Mumbai and that they had released the transcript of the conversation to the newspaper concerned.
“As a daily has reported that fugitive accused Tiger Memon indicated to his family members that he will take revenge and the daily has transcript of that communication, we want to clarify that we don’t have any such intercepted conversation and we also clarify that such a said transcript is not from the Mumbai police,” DCP and Mumbai police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni said in a text message circulated to the media.
The news report stated that Tiger Memon had called up his family in Mumbai at 5.35 am on July 30 — 85 minutes before Yakub Memon was hanged to death in the Nagpur Central Prison. He reportedly spoke to his mother Hanifa through VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol.
In his call that lasted three minutes was purportedly made 40 minutes after the Supreme Court rejected Yakub’s plea seeking a stay on his execution. In the reported conversation, Tiger repeatedly tells his mother that Yakub’s death will be avenged. “Main unko chukwaonga (I will make them pay).”
However, a sobbing Hanifa advises his son Tiger not to avenge Yakub’s death, by saying: “Bas ho gaya. Pehle ke vajah se mera Yakub gaya ab aur nahi main dekh sakti. (Stop this, due to the first incident, I have lost Yakub. Now I can’t bear to see any more people dying).”
In no mood to heed to his mother’s advice, a stubborn Tiger purportedly tells another unidentified family member: “tears of the family will not go waste.”
Tiger Memon, who is one of the key absconding accused, is reportedly based in Pakistan.