The funeral of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, who was hanged till death this morning at the Nagpur Central Jail, has taken place at Bada Kabristan in Marine Lines
Hanged 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon was on Thursday evening buried with full religious rites at a cemetery in Mumbai.
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The body was taken from Mahim to Bada Qabrastan near Marine Lines in south Mumbai. It was accompanied by his family members and a large posse of armed police personnel.
The building where Yakub's body is taken. Pic/Sailee Dhayalkar
According to witnesses, huge crowds gathered near the cemetery, as the Quick Response Team of Mumbai police, and Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria personally supervised the arrangements.
Earlier, after arrival from Nagpur to the Mumbai airport, Memon's body -- wrapped in a white shroud (kafan) and covered under a black funeral cortege -- was taken in an ambulance to Mahim and then to the terrace of the Bismillah Manzil building, near his home in Al Husseini building.
Family members and relatives gathered and offered namaz there before the funeral rites.
Soon after the body reached the Bada Qabrastan, a special 'namaz-e-janaza' (funeral prayer) was offered and later it was buried besides the graves of his parents and other family members.
A separate area was allocated to the huge media contingent to cover the funeral, although because of an earlier gag order, the media was barred from either photographing or videographing the ceremony.
Accordingly, there was no live telecast of the funeral procession or the last rites following the 13-hour gag order issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Sanjay Barkund, which will end at Thursday midnight.
Certain TV channels even flashed a notice saying they would not telecast the funeral, as Memon was a traitor and they would not make him a 'hero' of any kind by publicizing it.
The police order restraining the media said reports were received of "every likelihood of breach of peace and disturbance of public tranquillity and also there is a grave danger to human life, health and safety and injury to public property on that account".
The entire day, since the hanging in Nagpur and the funeral in Mumbai, passed off without any untoward incident reported from any part of Maharashtra.
The March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict was executed at 6.35 a.m. on Thursday at the Nagpur Central Jail.
His body was flown to Mumbai and reached the city airport by afternoon with police escort. Yakub Memon will be buried at Bada Kabristan at Marine Lines.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened outside Yakub's residence to prevent a law and order problem following his execution.
Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon was hanged till death at Nagpur Central Jail at around 7:00 am on Thursday morning.
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.
Following a post-mortem, Yakub Memon's body has been handed over to his family members. They were made to sign a bond stating that no funeral procession will be undertaken. His body was flown to Mumbai and reached the city airport by afternoon with police escort.
A team of police officials will escort Yakub Memon's body to Mumbai. According to airport officials, Yakub Memon's body will be travelling in an Indigo flight.
Yakub Memon
After the hanging, Memon's brother Sulaiman submitted an application to the jail authorities, urging the body be handed over to enable the family perform the last rites in Mumbai.
The request was immediately processed and permission - with stringent conditions - was granted and the body handed over.
Extra security and police personnel deployed at Mumbai airport. DCP Zone 8 personally monitoring the situation. Mumbai police have deployed tight security in Mahim area where the Memon's home is located and at other sensitive places in the city and the state.
Commissioner of Mumbai Police Rakesh Maria inspecting the area in Mahim, Mumbai. Pic/Ranjeet Jadhav
Also read: SC rejects lawyers' last-ditch plea to stay Yakub Memon's execution
The Supreme Court early on Thursday morning rejected a last-ditch attempt by Yakub Memon to stall his execution by 14 days.
Collector of Nagpur Sachin Kurne, ADG Prison Meeram Borwankar, Judicial Magistrate Girish Joshi, Chief Medical Officer Tiwari, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital Dean Sawadiya, Jailer Yogesh Desai were present at Yakub Memon's hanging.
Yakub Memon, the lone 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict, was executed by the same prison constable from Yerwada jail who carried out the hanging of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, one of the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, three years ago.
The hangman, whose identity has been kept under wraps due to security reasons, had arrived at the Central Prison here a week ago as part of a 20-member team of prison personnel from Yerwada Jail in Pune.
Yakub Memon woke up at 5:00 am, bathed and was dressed in new clothes. He offered a 15-minute prayer following which he was given an explanation regarding his crime. Earlier last night, Memon's last wish in which he requested to make a phone call to his daughter Jubeida was fulfilled. He was hanged at the special hanging room cell at Nagpur Central Jail, construction of which cost about Rs 22 lakh.
Yakub Memon's execution: Timeline of events since 1993 Mumbai blasts
Memon had challenged the rejection of his mercy petition by President Pranab Mukherjee, who was advised by union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during discussions to take the decision.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to make a statement on the issue in the state Assembly on Thursday.
The legal battle continued till barely a few hours before his hanging.
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.
Policemen deployed at Nagpur Central Jail, the site of Yakub Memon's execution
Maharashtra had started preparations for the noose for Memon almost three weeks ago.
The Supreme Court decision came after a day of fast-paced developments on Wednesday when the court had upheld the death warrant and the President rejected Memon's mercy petition a little before 11 pm on the advice of the government.
"Stay of death warrant would be a travesty of justice. The plea is dismissed," said Justice Dipak Misra, heading a three-judge bench, delivering the order in Court Room 4 which sealed Memon's fate.
In a late night move, Memon's lawyer mounted a last-ditch effort to save him from the gallows when they rushed to the residence of Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and petitioned him for an urgent hearing to stay the hanging on the ground that 14 days' time needed to be given to a death row convict to enable him challenge the rejection of his plea and for other purposes.
After consultations, the CJI constituted the same three-judge bench that had earlier decided on the death warrant issue to go into the late night plea.
Memon and 11 others were slapped with the death penalty by the special TADA court in July 2007 for the 1993 bomb blasts in which 257 people were killed and 712 were injured.
Memon's senior counsels Anand Grover and Yug Chowdhury said the authorities were "hell bent" on executing him without giving him the right to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition by the President as right to life of a condemned prisoner lasts till his last breath.
Grover said a death row convict is entitled to 14 days reprieve after rejection of mercy plea for various purposes.
Opposing Memon's plea, Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi contended his fresh petition amounted to abusing the system.
A death warrant upheld just 10 hours ago by three judges cannot be quashed, he said, adding the whole attempt appeared intended to prolong his stay in jail and get the sentence commuted.
Post 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.
-With inputs from Vinay Dalvi
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