Up for death: Yakub Memom. Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts that left 257 dead and over 700 injured, will hang with the Supreme Court dismissing his curative petition, the last legal remedy available to avoid execution of the death sentence.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a curative plea filed by the March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub A.R. Memon, who will go to the gallows on July 30.
An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.R. Dave rejected Memon’s plea challenging an earlier verdict upholding the death sentence.
As per indications, the Maharashtra government has cleared Memon’s execution for July 30 in the Nagpur Central Jail where he is lodged.
Memon — who will become the first and only accused in this 23-year old case to hang — had pleaded that he was a patient of schizophrenia since 1996, had spent nearly 20 years behind bars, and he could not be awarded both life sentence and death sentence for the same offence.
He sought a review of the apex court verdict of March 21, 2013 upholding the death penalty for the 13 precision bomb blasts in Mumbai which killed 257 people and injured 712.
He was among the 100 convicted — of the 123 accused in the case — besides many others listed as ‘wanted absconders’, including his brother Ibrahim alias Tiger Memon and mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.
Yakub Memon and 11 others were slapped with the death penalty, 20 got life terms and another 68, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, varying terms in jail.
Special TADA Court judge P.D. Kode, who conducted the trial and sentenced Memon and 11 others to death, termed the Supreme Court verdict “a solace after 22 years and a victory for those who believe in the rule of the law.
“The judgement shows that indulging in criminal activities is not a profitable business,” Kode said in Mumbai.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who directed the prosecution trial, said: “This is a historic verdict… The SC has distinguished the role between the conspirators and the planters and that they deserve bigger punishment.”
The lawyer said: “The death penalty is an effective remedy under the law. In this case it would act as a deterrent.”
When the then Special Judge Kode pronounced the death penalty on Memon on July 27, 2007, he had screamed like a wild animal, stunning the packed courtroom.
Once named the Best Chartered Account by his Memon community, Yakub Memon, 53, handled the finances for his brother, Tiger Memon, in Mumbai.
Named accused No. 1, Menom played a key role in the conspiracy, financing the operation through co-accused Mulchand Shah and his firms, arranging air tickets to fly to Dubai and then Pakistan for six other accused.
He was also found guilty of buying vehicles used in the blasts and possessing arms and ammunitions.
The entire family, including Yakub Memon, quietly fled Mumbai shortly before the blasts.
Kode said the March 1993 terror attack was the biggest in Indian history, targeting 13 locations simultaneously and blowing them up within a couple of hours.
The third of six sons of the late Abdul Razzaq Memon, Yakub Memon turned out to be most educated in the Memon family. He completed his schooling in an English medium school and later acquired his B.Com degree and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1990.
He diversified into exports and formed a company, Tejrath International, to export meat and meat products to the Gulf and the Middle East.
In a short period, Memon became a financial success and invested in six flats in the Al-Hussaini Building in Mahim, a hub of the Muslim community, close to the famous Mahim Dargah, in the island city.
He was sentenced to death by a special TADA Court in Mumbai on July 27, 2007, for his role in the blasts, including arranging finances for carrying out the 13 serial explosions which left 257 dead and over 700 injured across the city on March 12, 1993.
Subsequently, Memon appealed against the sentence in the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court and later filed a mercy petition with the President, followed by a review petition, and then a second review petition.
The apex court April 9 had dismissed Memon’s review petition seeking the recall of its March 21, 2013 verdict upholding his death sentence.
Dismissing his review petition on April 9, the court had said: “We find that all the arguments advanced by the review petitioner have been considered in detail in the judgement (of March 21, 2013) which is sought to be reviewed. Hence, we do not find any error apparent on the face of record or any other ground so as to warrant interference in exercise of our review jurisdiction.”
The apex court by its March 21, 2013 verdict, while upholding the death sentence, had said that his “deeds can’t be viewed distinct from the act of Tiger Memon, hence, both owe an equivalent responsibility for the blasts” that led to 13 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.
“They were the architects of the blasts, without whom the plan would have never seen the daylight. From this conduct, it is not hyperbole to state that, he (Memon) was one of the ‘driving sprit’ behind the plan of the 1993 blasts, whereas the other appellants played a far lesser role and thus a lesser contribution to the crimes resulting from this plan”, the court had said.
The court had then held that the dominant position that Yakub Memon held in the execution of serial blasts was an “aggravating factor by itself, as it gives the status of direct responsibility”. “Since Yakub Memon as well as other absconders were the real conspirators who hatched the scheme for such a tragic act, the other 10 appellants were mere subservient subordinates whose knowledge and acquaintance might have been restricted to their counterparts.”
“It is difficult to rule out with certainty that if the absconding accused (Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Ayub Memon) were to be brought to trial, they might have thrown further light at the role played by Yakub Memon,” the court had observed in 2013.
The apex court on April 9 had dismissed Yakub Memon’s plea for the review of death sentence verdict for the second time as it had earlier dismissed his similar plea seeking the recall of March 21, 2013 verdict.
Memon’s plea for the recall of his death sentence verdict was rejected earlier too, but it was taken up once again as the constitution bench, by its September 2, 2014 judgement, had said that review pleas in death sentence cases would be heard in the open court by a bench of three judges.
It also ruled that this “will also apply where a review petition is already dismissed but the death sentence is not executed so far. In such cases, the petitioners can apply for the reopening of their review petition within one month from the date of this judgment”.
He was named the best chartered accountant by the Memon community. Tiger, 52, is considered to be a close aide of the absconder mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, and both are declared “wanted absconders” in the same case.
Yakub, 53, third of six sons, turned out to be most highly-educated in the Memon family. He studied in an English medium school, later acquired a B.Com degree and then qualified as a chartered accountant in 1990.
A year later, he set up “Mehta & Memon Associates” along with a childhood friend Chetan Mehta. A year later, they parted ways and Memon set up his independent firm, “AR & Sons”, in memory of his father.
This firm proved so successful that he was conferred the Best CA Award by the Memon community in Mumbai.He diversified into exports and set up a company, Tejrath International, to export meat and meat products to the Gulf and Middle East. (IANS)