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Yakub Memon hanged in Nagpur prison

by IBNS 30 Jul 2015, 06:15 am

Nagpur, July 30 (IBNS): Putting an end to all legal battle and nearly two hours after the Supreme Court rejected his final plea, 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon was hanged at Nagpur Central Prison in Nagpur on Thursday.

The Supreme Court at 5 am dismissed Memon's final petition to stop his execution on grounds of his last-minute mercy plea.

The hearing was held in the middle of the night at the apex court's premise.

Memon was hanged between 6:30 am and 7 am.

According to reports, his body will be handed over to his family.

Security has been beefed up across Nagpur and Mumbai other parts of the country, including Benguluru, over the hanging of Memon.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi tweeted: "In view of d proposed hanging of Yakub Memon on 30 th July, high alert is sounded. BCP is on alert and precautionary steps taken."

"Public in Bengaluru are requested to be alert n watch out for any suspicious person, activity or object n inform 100 immediately," he said.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday rejected his mercy petition.

The Supreme Court bench on Wednesday too dismissed his plea against the death warrant in the Mumbai serial blasts of  1993 when in a series of 13 bomb explosions 350 people were killed and 1200 injured.

The attacks were coordinated by India's most wanted man, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who runs an organised crime syndicate named D-Company from abroad.  

1962 born Yakub  Memon, a chartered accountant by profession, was convicted in the 1993 blasts by Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court on 27 July 2007. He is the brother of one of the prime suspects in the bombings, Tiger Memon.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier met Mukherjee and reportedly advised him to reject Memon's plea.

The Supreme Court earlier in the day said that proper procedure was followed in Yakub's curative petition and his death warrant is without any lapse.

The Governor of Maharashtra has also dismissed the mercy petition by Memon against his hanging. 

A three-judge Supreme Court bench heard on Wednesday whether Memon will hang on Thursday or not even as he filed a fresh mercy petition with the President who had last year rejected the clemency plea.

In the apex court the petition of Yakub was that proper procedure was not followed in his case with his lawyer arguing that the death warrant issued against him is illegal.