Yakub Memon's body handed over to family, to be buried in Mumbai

The body of Yakub Memon, who was hanged at the Central Prison here this morning for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, was handed over to his family and it will be flown to Mumbai for burial.

Memon was hanged till death in the 'Fansi Yard' under supervision of Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai. "Yes Yakub Memon has been hanged at 7 AM sharp and his body is being handed over to his family," Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed PTI in a text message.

Yakub's brother Suleman and cousin Usman, who were camping in city since yesterday, received the body which was being flown to Mumbai. A team of doctors declared him dead after about half-and-hour of the scheduled hanging, when his body was brought down.

Chief Judicial Magistrate of Nagpur M M Deshpande was present in the Fansi Yard. She read out the operating part of the TADA court order which awarded capital punishment to Yakub before he was made to stand on a stool and the lever pulled by the hangman.

Memon, who was the lone convict sent to gallows in the serial blasts which claimed 257 lives across the financial capital of country in 1993, lost a series of legal battles for stay on his execution over a period of time.

His mercy petition under Article 71 was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee. Even after the rejection of mercy petition by the President, Memon filed another mercy petition himself on July 21, the day when his curative petition was dismissed. The mercy petition was contended that his earlier mercy plea was filed by his brother and hence, he was entitled to file his own petition.

As a last minute effort to save 53-year-old Memon from gallows, his lawyers challenged the issuance of black warrant on July 13 contending that the death warrant was issued before the apex court could decide the curative petition.

On this, the bench of Supreme Court comprising Justices Anil Dave and Kurian Joseph gave a split verdict, prompting Chief Justice H L Dattu to constitute a three-Judge bench headed by Justice Deepak Mishra, which finally rejected all the arguments of defence and upheld the decision of the lower court to send him to gallows. The bench felt there was no procedural lapses in the curative petition. Its validity was upheld by the apex court.