President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected the mercy petition of Yakub Memon, the death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
The decision came after President held consultations first with Home Minister Rajnath Singh who was later joined by Home Secretary L C Goyal and Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar.
Earlier on Wednesday Supreme Court had dismissed Yakub Abdul Razak Memon’s plea against his scheduled execution on Thursday.
The Apex Court said the issue of death warrant is in order and that it does not find fault with the issuance of death warrant by TADA court.
The Apex court refused to stay the execution slated for Thursday, and with it rejecting his last ditch plea to escape death.
The three judge bench of Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice PC Pant and Justice Amiav Ghosh rejected the appeal.
The court observed that there was no “legal fallacy” in the issuance of death warrant by the TADA court in Mumbai on April 30 scheduling Yakub’s execution for Thursday in Nagpur.
The court also said that the dismissal of curative petition by the senior most judges of the Supreme Court cannot be faulted and was therefore, correct.
Court also declined to go into the mercy petitions pending at that time.
All the points raised by Yakub were part of his appeal filed before the two member bench of Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The bench could not arrive on a majority view which necessitated referral to a larger bench.
The Governor of Maharahstra C Vidyasagar Rao subsequently rejected his mercy plea.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that the law will take its own course.
Legal pundits and families of the victims have welcomed the decision.
Stage seems to be set for the hanging of the culprit in Nagpur Central Jail 7 am on Thursday.
Security has been tightened in and around the jail and barricades put up to the road leading to the central prison.
Yakub’s family members also visited him in the jail.
Yakub will face the gallows after almost 21 years after he was arrested. He was convicted as main conspirators of Mumbai serial blasts. TADA court gave him death sentenced in 2007.
Subsequently, the sentence was upheld by two judge Supreme Court bench in 2013.
Yakub filed a review petition which was rejected on 30 July 2013. President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy plea on 11th April 2014. Supreme Court rejected his second review on 9 April 2015.
Yakub filed a curative petition as a last legal resort, but that too met with the same fate on 21st July. Meanwhile on 30th April, TADA Court fixed 30 July as the date for execution of the death warrant.
Yakub got the warrant on 13th July, and he further appeal against the legality of the death warrant, and also questioned the composition of the bench that disposed off his curative petition. But now as the legal options seem to have ended, the 22 year old battle for justice seems to be coming to a conclusion.