SC stays execution of 1993 Mumbai blast accused Yakub Memon

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts main accused Yakub Memon.

Television reports said the apex court gave a reprieve to Yakub Memon in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

The Supreme Court had tagged Yakub's petition-seeking a stay on his execution-with pending cases and referred it to a constitution bench, which will decide whether the review petition should be heard in an open court.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Yakub had stated that he had been in jail for more than 20 years, which is more than the jail term awarded for life imprisonment, which is 14 years.

He has maintained that his review petition seeking reconsideration of the Supreme Court's verdict should be heard in an open court and should not be decided in the judges' chambers, an NDTV report had quoted Yakub, as saying in his appeal.

President Pranab Mukherjee had earlier rejected Yakub's mercy plea and conveyed his decision to the Maharashtra government. This decision was taken on the recommendations of the Maharashtra Government and the Home Ministry that the mercy petition of Yakub be rejected.

Yakub, a chartered accountant and brother of fugitive terror mastermind Tiger Memon, was sentenced to death by a TADA court in 2007 after being found guilty of charges of criminal conspiracy and for arranging finances and managing its disbursement through the co-accused in the Mumbai serial blasts case.

Upholding the Mumbai TADA court's verdict, the Supreme Court, in March, 2013, had said, "It is not a hyperbole to state that he was one of the driving spirits behind the plan."

In October 2013, Yakub had applied for a presidential pardon following which a report from the state government was sought by the home ministry.

Yakub was arrested from Kathmandu Airport in 1994. He was later described by the TADA court as the mastermind who played a key role in the conspiracy, thus "warranting death penalty".

The multiple blasts had claimed 257 lives and left 713 injured.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which probed the blasts, alleged that the conspiracy was hatched by Dawood Ibrahim and other absconding persons, including Yakub's brother Tiger Memon, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.