The 1993 Mumbai blasts death row convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon will be hanged after the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday dismissed his review petition following several days of hearing in open court.
A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Anil Dave found no convincing reason to interfere with its March 21, 2013 order sentencing Memon to death for being the “driving spirit” behind the attacks that claimed 257 lives and left 713 injured. He can appeal against this verdict by filing a curative petition, the last of his legal remedies.
His lawyers argued that under the now repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), punishment for conspiracy did not merit death sentence as there was no evidence that he directly took part in the terrorist act.
He further submitted that the grounds for his conviction were not available for him to argue for a lesser punishment. Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant by profession, is the brother of notorious fugitive Tiger Memon, who is evading arrest in the case.
Memon is lodged at Nagpur Jail and is receiving constant medical attention. He is the lone death row convict while the other ten convicts slapped with death penalty got reprieve from the SC in March 2013. Memon’s active role in financing visits by terrorists to Pakistan for arms training and transporting RDX used in the blast came as clinching evidence to nail his guilt.
The execution of Memon was put on hold since June last year when the Bench took up Memon’s review plea. Even the President refused to grant him clemency in April last by allowing the Maharashtra Government to go ahead with his execution.