File photo of 1993 blasts plotter Tiger Memon
Hours before 1993 blasts convict Yakub Memon was hanged on July 30, his older brother and terror mastermind Tiger Memon, called his family in Mumbai and threatened to avenge the death, say sources. On record, the Mumbai police have said no such call was made.
Sources say that Tiger Memon made the call in the early hours of July 30 through VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol and spoke to an elderly family member, who reportedly told him that "they cannot take any more violence and it should stop."
Tiger Memon's call allegedly lasted a few minutes. A newspaper report suggested that the call was intercepted by the police and security agencies, but it was denied by cops.
"As a daily has reported that fugitive accused Tiger Memon indicated to his family members that he will take revenge and the daily has transcript of that communication, we want to clarify that we don't have any such intercepted conversation and we also clarify that such a said transcript is not from the Mumbai police, " Mumbai Police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni said.
Yakub Memon was hanged hours after the Supreme Court, in a historic middle-of-the-night hearing, rejected his eleventh-hour appeal for more time. The accountant was held guilty of financing the deadly attack in Mumbai which 257 people were killed.
Yakub's body was buried near his home in Mahim, Mumbai.
Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim, who are the main accused, remain missing and are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
Yakub Memon's family had claimed that he had surrendered and his death penalty should have been commuted to life imprisonment. His lawyers and activists also said that he had cooperated with investigators and did not deserve to die. The families of those who were injured or killed in the terror attack strongly disagreed.
Mumbai was placed under heavy security on the day of Yakub Memon's hanging, with city Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria even visiting Mahim. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also spent the day in the city.