New Delhi: Yakub Abdul Razak Memon or Yakub Memon is a classic case of how some of the well educated people can become terrorists in the name of religion. Yakub who was sent to the gallows was a chartered accountant. Such an educated man becoming a terrorist was unheard of in the early 1990s.
Maharashtra government decided to execute 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon on July 30.
He was a brother of Ibrahim Mushtaq alias ‘Tiger’ Memon, one of the prime accused in the deadly 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts which killed 257 people and injured almost a thousand.
Twenty years after the most horrific terror attack, in 2013 the Supreme Court sentenced Yakub Memon to death for his role in the blasts. He was the most educated member of the Memon family. He was arrested at Kathmandu airport while trying to flee India.
According to police his accounting firm used to handle the finances of brother Tiger's illegal operations, which included lucrative silver smuggling.
He did well for himself and had bought six flats in the Al Hussaini building where Tiger already had two duplex flats. Tiger was a henchman of D-Company mafioso and co-conspirator in the 1993 blasts, Dawood Ibrahim who is hiding in Pakistan.
Yakub was first sentenced on July 27, 2007 by judge PD Kode of the TADA court in Mumbai. He has been convicted for following crimes he committed.
Criminal conspiracy under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code. Sentenced to death for arranging finance and managing disbursement of the money through a co-accused Mulchand Shah and a firm Tejarath International owned by absconding accused and his brother Ayub Memon.
Aiding, abetting and facilitating in a terrorist Act under Section 3 of TADA. Sentenced to life imprisonment. According to charge sheet he arranged for air tickets through Altafali Mushtaqali Sayyed, East West travels for the youths who were sent for arms and ammunition training to Pakistan. Also made arrangements for their lodging and boarding. Purchased motor vehicles which were used while planting bombs.
Illegal possession and transportation of arms and ammunition under Sections 5, 6 of TADA - Sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Possessing explosives with intent to endanger lives under sections 3, 4 and 6 of the Explosives Substances Act- Sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. Requested co-accused, Amjadali Meherbux and Altafali Sayyed, to store suitcases containing arms, ammunition, hand grenades and detonators.
On 21 March 2013, Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Yakub Memon, and called him mastermind of terror strike. However,the Supreme Court on 2 June 2014 stayed his execution. A bench comprising justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan issued notice to the Maharashtra government and others on the plea of Memon and said that in the meantime "execution proceedings will remain stayed".
The court also referred to a Constitution bench a plea of Memon that review petitions in death penalty cases should not be heard by the apex court in chamber proceedings and be decided in open court.
Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was hanged till death at 7 am on July 30 in Nagpur Central Jail, after the Supreme Court upheld his sentencing. It was the first execution in the 1993 blasts case.
Yakub Memon is portrayed by actor Imtiaz Ali in Anurag Kashyap’s controversial film on the 1993 bomb blasts ‘Black Friday’. A part of the real footage of his interview given to Video news of the 1990s ‘Newstrack’ in which he tells that the conspiracy was hatched by ‘Tiger’ Memon and his mafia associates was also included in ‘Black Friday’.
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