Security Tightened at Nagpur Central Jail

Nagpur:  Security was tightened further at the Nagpur Central Jail where Yakub Memon is to be hanged at 7 am today, moments after the Supreme Court rejected his final petition to stop his execution on grounds of a last-minute mercy plea.

Nagpur jail officials had been prepping for the execution of Memon, who turns 53 today.

Memon’s last minute petition to stop his hanging was rejected by the Supreme Court, which opened at 3 am and held an unprecedented middle-of-the-night hearing.

After 90 minutes of arguments, the three Supreme Court judges who had rejected Memon’s petition earlier in the day accepted the government’s argument that the convict had “ample opportunity” to challenge his sentencing.

Memon was sentenced to death for helping plan the deadly blasts across Mumbai in 1993, in which 257 people were killed. Of the 11 sentenced to death for the terror attack, Yakub was the only convict not granted mercy.

Yakub’s brother Suleiman and cousin Usman have been staying at a hotel in Nagpur.

A little after 2 am last night, a police constable delivered a letter to Suleiman at the hotel. It was speculated that it was a formal intimation to Memon’s family that he would be hanged at the at 7 am.

Sources say there have been regular health check-ups on Yakub since his death warrant was issued in April.