Nagpur, July 30 (IANS) Yakub Memon, convicted in the
March 12, 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, was hanged till death at the Nagpur
Central Jail in Maharashtra on Thursday morning, officials said.
He
was sent to the gallows -- on his 54th birthday on Thursday -- after
several of his court appeals and clemency petitions were rejected by
various courts, including the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court, the
Maharashtra governor and the president of India.
Memon was hanged at 6.35 a.m. A medical team at the jail pronounced him dead a short while later.
His body was sent for an autopsy by a medical team from a Nagpur government hospital, before being cleared for the last rites.
The last of the legal procedures continued till barely a couple of hours before the execution this morning before sunrise.
Memon
was the first -- and only convict out of 100 in the 1993 Mumbai bomb
blasts case -- whose hanging was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The death sentence of 11 others was commuted to life.
A Mumbai Special Court had sentenced him to death in July 2007.
The death warrant was issued by a Special TADA Court judge on April 29, scheduling the execution for July 30.
Maharashtra had started preparations for the noose for Memon almost three weeks ago.
Memon
filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court, followed by a clemency plea
with the Maharashtra governor, again a fresh plea in the apex court and a
final appeal with the president of India.
He got no relief from any quarters, paving the way for his execution.
The
Supreme Court on early Thursday rejected a last ditch attempt by 1993
Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon to stall his execution.
Memon had challenged the rejection of his mercy petition by the president.
Past
midnight on Thursday, the apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak
Misra, Justice Prafulla C. Pant and Justice Amitava Roy rejected Memon's
plea seeking 14 days' time before the execution of his death sentence
is carried out.
Yakub Memon's body sent for autopsy
The body of Yakub Memon, who
was hanged at the Nagpur Central Jail here in Maharashtra early Thursday
for the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, has been taken for an
autopsy.
Memon was hanged at 6.35 a.m. and a medical team pronounced him dead a short while later.
His body was sent for an autopsy by a team from a Nagpur hospital before being cleared for the last rites.
According
to present indications, the body will not be handed over to the family
and the burial will take place inside the jail premises after the
autopsy report is received.
Memon was hanged on his 54th birthday
after several of his court appeals and clemency petitions were rejected
by various courts including the Bombay High Court, Supreme Court,
Maharashtra governor and the president.
The last of the legal procedures continued till barely a couple of hours before the execution in the morning.
Memon to be buried in Nagpur jail
Yakub Memon, the March 1993
Mumbai blasts convict, who was executed here early Thursday, will be
buried inside the Nagpur Central Jail complex in Maharashtra, official
sources said here.
The jail authorities declined a demand to hand
over the body to Memon's family and will go ahead with the burial at an
isolated area inside the sprawling jail premises after the autopsy
report is received.
Memon was hanged at 6.35 a.m. after the
Supreme Court rejected the last of his appeals in a special hearing
which concluded around 5 a.m. in New Delhi.
The entire hanging operation was witnessed by a magistrate and video recorded, as per norms.
His
kin - Sulaiman Memon and Usman Memon - remained locked up inside their
hotel room nearby in a state of shock after the hanging, while Memon's
wife and daughter were at an undisclosed location.
It is not immediately clear if they would be permitted to attend the last rites.