Nagpur/Mumbai: The body of Yakub Memon, who was hanged in Nagpur this morning for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, was handed over to his family which flew it to Mumbai for last rites amid tight security with city police disallowing any procession.

Security has been stepped up in Mumbai, especially in Mahim area where Yakub’s family resides as well as other sensitive localities of the metropolis, and over 400 people have been detained as a preventive measure.

Quick Response Teams of police, formed after the 26/11 terrorist attacks, have been deployed at a few places, including the Al Hussaini building where the Memon family lives and in Marine Lines, where the burial arrangements have been made.

“Yes Yakub Memon has been hanged at 7 AM sharp and his body is being handed over to his family,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. Yakub’s brother Suleiman and cousin Usman, who were camping in Nagpur since yesterday, received the body which was taken to airport and flown to Mumbai. The two boarded the same flight.

Suleiman had moved an application last evening to the Nagpur jail authorities requesting that the body be handed over to the family. The request was accepted and accordingly, the body was wrapped in ‘kafan’ (shroud) and placed in a tightly sealed coffin box.

Mumbai Police has not allowed Yakub’s family to carry the body in a procession and has made arrangements to perform the burial at a cemetery in Marine Lines, where heavy police force has been deployed.

“We have not permitted Yakub’s family to reach the cemetery in any procession taking into account law and order situation and only those very close to the family would be taking part in his last rites,” a senior police officer said.

“We have already gathered personal details of the people who would be with Yakub’s family,” he added. Since Yakub’s father Abdul Razzak and some other family members were buried at the Marine Lines cemetery, Yakub’s family has wished to perform his last rites there, another police officer said.

Alternative arrangements have also been made for burial at the Mahim cemetery, he said.

“We are monitoring and reviewing the security arrangements regularly,” Mumbai Police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni said.

Mumbai Police have detained nearly 405 people as a preventive measure to maintain law and order in the wake of Yakub’s hanging. “All the people who are detained are on police record, who might disturb the communal harmony or create disturbance in the city,” said DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni.

Police are also keeping a close eye on any inflammatory statement by religious or political leaders and have warned of strict action against anyone violating law. The burial will take place in a Muslim cemetery after the usual last prayer ‘Namaj-e-Janaja’ later today.

Tight security arrangements were made in and around the Central Prison in Nagpur. Quick Response Teams were deployed and authorities also clamped section 144 of CrPC (unlawful assembly) last evening.

A large number of onlookers gathered at some distance outside the jail. Yakub was hanged till death in the ‘Fansi Yard’ under supervision of Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai.

A team of doctors declared him dead after about half-and-hour of the scheduled hanging, when his body was brought down.

Chief Judicial Magistrate of Nagpur M M Deshpande was present in the Fansi Yard.

She read out the operating part of the TADA court order which awarded capital punishment to Yakub before he was made to stand on a stool and the lever pulled by the hangman.

Yakub, who was the lone convict sent to gallows in the serial blasts which claimed 257 lives across the financial capital of country in 1993, lost a series of legal battles for stay on his execution.

(Agencies)

Nagpur: Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, “convicted” in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, was hanged till death at the Nagpur Central Jail 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.

Here is the timeline of the major events that took place in the last 24 hours:

10.35am (July 29): Three-judge bench of the SC starts hearing Memon’s plea after two judges gave a split order on Tuesday

11am: Memon submits a 14-page mercy petition to President Pranab Mukherjee’s office

4pm: SC dismisses Memon’s plea against his death warrant

4pm: Maharashtra governor rejects Memon’s mercy plea

4pm: President sends Memon’s mercy petition to home ministry for advice

8.30pm: Home minister Rajnath Singh drives to Rashtrapati Bhawan, conveys government’s decision to reject Memon’s mercy petition

9.15pm: Union home secretary LC Goyal and solicitor general Ranjit Kumar arrive at Rashtrapati Bhawan

10.45pm: President rejects mercy petition of Memon

10.50pm: Senior lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Anand Grover reach Chief Justice of India Justice HL Dattu’s residence with a fresh petition seeking stay of death warrant for the next 14 days

1am (July 30): Scene shifts to residence of senior SC judge justice Dipak Misra’s residence as senior lawyers Grover and Yug Mohit Chaudhry reach his residence

1.35am: Three judges – justice Misra, justice Pant and justice Roy – agree to meet at the Supreme Court at 2.30am.

2.30am: Judges arrive at the apex court. Hearing deferred over attorney general Mukul Rohtagi’s delay in arrival

3.20am: Hearing on Memon’s plea begins

4.50am: SC rejects Memon’s plea for a stay on the death warrant

5.30am: Memon is provided information as to why he is being hanged by a magistrate in the jail

7am: Memon hanged at Nagpur jail in Maharashtra around 7am. A medical team pronounced him dead a short while later.

9.30am: After doing all formalities by 9.30 am, Yakub’s elder brother, Suleiman and cousin, Usman Memon take the custody of the body and leave for the Nagpur airport by 9.45 am. The body would be taken to Mumbai for burial by a service flight.

(Agencies)