Yakub Memon hanged

Mumbai/New Delhi: The hangman pulled the lever of the gallows at Nagpur’s Central Prison at 7 am on Thursday, executing the March 1993 serial blasts convict Yakub Memon. The entire process lasted not more than 15 minutes before his body was taken down and handed over to his family, which flew it to Mumbai the same morning.

He was buried in Bada Kabrastan at Marine Lines on Thursday evening, with massive crowds of visitors and sympathisers gathering at the family’s Mahim residence and at Bada Kabrastan.

Yakub had been “stoic” and “calm” in the run-up to the execution. “Ya Allah” were his last words before the lever was pulled. Last-ditch legal manoeuvres by his lawyers to stall the execution failed after a SC three-judge bench, the same which hours earlier had upheld his death sentence, held an unprecedented predawn hearing of a fresh appeal in court room 4 at 3.20 am, and rejected it at 4.50 am. “Stay of death warrant would be a travesty of justice. The plea is dismissed,” said Justice Dipak Misra.

final momenmts

• 4 am: Yakub Memon woken up
• 5 am: Doctors conduct last-minute check-up
• 5.30 am: Recites verses from the Holy Quran
• 6.30 am: Black veil placed on his face
• 6.45 am: Chief judicial magistrate reads out part of Tada court verdict
• 6.50 am: Yakub stands on hanging platform; rope placed, locked around his neck
• 7 am: CJM signals the hangman to pull the lever