File photo of 1993 blasts convict Yakub Memon
Terrorist Yakub Memon will hang for his role in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, India's worst terror attack, after the Supreme Court today refused to reconsider his execution. He will be hanged on July 30, his birthday.
Memon, an accountant, will be the first to be executed for the deadly attack in which 257 people were killed.
53-year-old Memon was found guilty in 2007 of financing the 12 blasts that shook India's financial capital. He has been in jail for two decades. His brother Essa and Yusuf and sister-in-law Rubina were all convicted in the blasts.
Yakub Memon's brother Ibrahim or Tiger Memon, and Dawood Ibrahim, the other masterminds of the attacks, have been on the run since 1993. A judge described the three as the "architects of the blasts" that took place at separate landmarks including the Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of the national carrier Air India and the luxury Sea Rock hotel.
Yakub Memon decided to return to India from Pakistan in 1994, protesting his innocence. He was detained shortly afterwards in circumstances that remain unclear: he has said he turned himself in, but police claimed an arrest.
His was the only mercy petition to be rejected. The sentence of the other 10 people convicted for the blasts has been commuted to life in prison.
A court said Memon was the "diving spirit" behind the attacks.
Memon's appeals against his execution were rejected all the way to the Supreme Court and also by the President. His family members have been informed about the date and time of his execution, which is the procedure, say sources in the government.
Memon, who completed master's degrees in English Literature and political science in jail, had challenged his death sentence on the grounds that while he could be held guilty of conspiracy, he was not involved in executing the blasts that led to death of people.
Actor Sanjay Dutt is serving a four year sentence in jail after being convicted for buying weapons from those accused in the blasts.