New Delhi: Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict, will be hanged at 7 AM on Thursday at the Nagpur Central Jail after his mercy petition was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday.
Sources said that the President has studied the Supreme Court order before rejecting Memon's plea. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar and Attorney General AK Rohatgi were also present with him.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh also met the President and presented government's view that Memon's plea should be rejected at the earliest.
In yet another last ditch action, Yakub Memon's lawyers moved Supreme Court seeking stay on his execution for 14 days. The petition will be processed before a decision is taken whether it is to be heard and if so by one or more judges at their residence.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Governor Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao and three-member bench of the Supreme Court turned down his plea seeking a reconsideration of his death sentence.
The apex court on Wednesday upheld the death warrant against Memon and said it is correct, and the dismissal of his curative petition by three senior most Supreme Court judges is in accordance with the law.
Memon will be hanged on his 53rd birthday as per the TADA court's order even as prison sources said preparations were completed to carry out the execution amid tight security. Meanwhile, Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed outside the jail and security has been hiked near Yakub Memon's home in Mumbai.
Memon's cousin Usman and Suleiman reached Nagpur and met jail authorities. His wife and daughter haven't come to Nagpur. Nearly 500 preventive detentions have taken place in Mumbai and Nagpur to maintain law and order situation.
Speaking on the case, senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam said, "The Supreme Court has rejected all the contentions raised by Yakub Memon."
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Memon, in his plea, had claimed he was suffering from schizophrenia since 1996 and has remained behind bars for nearly 20 years, much more than a person serving life term has to spend in jail.
He had sought commutation of death penalty, contending that a convict cannot be awarded life term and the death sentence for the same offence. The apex court had on June 2, 2014 stayed the execution of Memon and referred his plea to a Constitution Bench as to whether review petitions in death penalty cases be heard in an open court or in chambers.
The apex court had on April 9, 2014 dismissed Memon's petition seeking review of his death sentence which was upheld on March 21, 2013.
Memon is convicted for criminal conspiracy under Section 120-B of the IPC, aiding, abetting and facilitating a terrorist act, illegal possession and transportation of arms and ammunition and possessing explosives with intent to endanger lives.
According to investigating agency, Tiger Memon got Yakub involved in planning and plotting the serial blasts that killed at least 257 people and injured about 700 on March 12, 1993.
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