Denying reports of the hanging being postponed, the CM said no such directive had been received from the apex court; sources said the state has advised the Governor to turn down Yakub Memon’s mercy petition
Denying reports that the hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon has been postponed by 14 days, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the execution could be delayed or stopped only if the state government received orders to that effect from the Supreme Court.
Rahin Memon arrives in Nagpur yesterday to meet her husband Yakub Memon who has been sentenced to death in the 1993 Mumbai blast case. Pic/PTI
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Sources said that the state government has also advised Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to turn down Yakub’s mercy petition, which he had moved following the SC’s rejection of his curative petition on July 21. “We have not received any directive as on today (Thursday).
The hanging can be stopped only when the Supreme Court asks the government to do so,” the CM said, referring to a last-ditch appeal against Yakub’s hanging moved before the SC. He added that the government had followed the court’s instruction on informing Memon and his family about the hanging 15 days before the day of executing him.
Yakub’s new petition to the Supreme Court says that the death warrant was illegal because it didn’t follow proper procedure. He said that he had not exhausted all legal options available to him and that he should be allowed to avail of them as per the rules. He contended that he had not urged the Supreme Court to review the death sentence after pronouncement.
mid-day has learnt that the state government has prepared a five-page advisory for Governor Rao, which was sent to the Raj Bhavan last evening. Sources said that the advisory suggested that Memon’s plea for mercy must be denied because the Apex Court has already turned down his earlier request for mercy.
The government has also spelled out Memon’s role in the blast that killed more than 250 people. Memon is the only convict in the case to be given capital punishment. Memon was convicted in 2007 by a special court for assisting in the conspiracy and execution of the serial blasts. He was accused of funding the people who had trained in terror activities in Pakistan.
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