File photo of Yakub Memon
Usman Memon, the cousin of death row convict Yakub Memon, said he was not allowed to meet him today. He had been turned away after a more than two-and-a-half-hour wait at the Nagpur Central Prison, where Memon is currently lodged, Usman told NDTV.
Memon, 53, who has been convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, is to be executed on July 30. His plea to the Supreme Court, saying the death warrant for his execution was illegal, has been referred to a larger bench as the two judges who heard the case today were divided on the matter.
Sources in the jail told NDTV that since Usman had met Memon last week, granting him another meeting could have violated rules. Also, it was not binding to grant him another audience so soon without any compelling reason, they said.
Last time he met Memon, Usman was accompanied by Delhi-based lawyer Shubbal Farooque, who had created a flutter later, as he was found to have used an outdated identity card to gain entry.
The authorities have allowed Memon's family to send him a cake on Wednesday, reported news agency Press Trust of India. Memon will turn 54 on July 30 - the date of his execution -- and his wife Rahin and other relatives who met him last week, had requested the authorities to allow them to send him a cake.
Memon had pleaded in Supreme Court that the death warrant for his execution was illegal since it was issued before he had exhausted every legal option; his curative petition challenging the Supreme Court's ruling had not been heard then. It was rejected last week.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on his plea and referred it to the Chief Justice HL Dattu, who set up a three-judge bench to decide on the matter.