Yakub Memon’s cousin Usman Memon meets him in prison

Yakub’s cousin Usman Memon, accompanied by a local lawyer, arrived at the Central Prison in Nagpur where the convict is lodged.

Nagpur.

A family member of 1993 Bombay blasts convict Yakub Memon, who is on a death row, on Monday met him at the high security Central Prison here. Yakub’s cousin Usman Memon, accompanied by a local lawyer, arrived at the Central Prison in the afternoon where the convict is lodged.

His other family members, particularly his wife and daughter, were also expected to visit him, but they did not turn up. Usman and lawyer Anil Gondane refused to talk to the media persons waiting outside the jail premises.

Memon’s curative petition, his last legal attempt to escape the gallows, is expected to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Memon, a key conspirator with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, is one of ten convicts awarded death penalty by a special TADA court.

His death sentence was upheld by a Supreme Court bench on March 21, 2013. Earlier, amid reports that Yakub will be hanged this month end, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had last week said his government would follow the directives of the Supreme Court on the issue.

“Whatever we do will be made public at an appropriate time,” Fadnavis had said. If the execution is carried out, it will be the first in connection with the violence that rocked Mumbai resulting in the death of over 250 people in 1993.

Media reports had earlier said the execution will take place if Memon’s curative petition is rejected by the Supreme Court, after his appeals against the death sentence were rejected by the apex court and by President Pranab Mukherjee. The Nagpur prison authorities had earlier evaded questions on whether they had any information on the possible date of hanging.

Asked if the prison has received the death warrant, Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai pleaded ignorance stating “it is (something) at the government level.” Prison officials had, however, said the jail is equipped with all the necessary facilities to carry out the execution.