MUMBAI: It was as if a dam had burst. “Even the innocent will be made into terrorists,” screamed Yakub Memon, third of the Memon brothers, reacting to Judge PD Kode’s verdict holding four members of his family guilty in the 1993 serial blasts conspiracy.
“This is exactly what the [instigators] want,” said the qualified chartered accountant, who chose to return to India in 1994 from Dubai where the Memon family had fled following the blasts.
The outburst from the usually quiet and composed Yakub, always dressed in an ironed shirt despite being in jail, shocked almost everyone in the courtroom. All eyes trailed him as he stormed out of the courtroom yelling that he regretted his decision to return.
“Woh sab bole the ki tum c****** hai jo wapis ja raha hai,” he screamed before the judge. Refusing to take assistance from any lawyer, Yakub said the Memons would argue for the quantum of punishment themselves.
The entire Memon clan had fled to Dubai after the March 12, 1993, blasts. Apparently fed up with living as fugitives in the shadow of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Yakub decided to come back.
Eight other family members, including his wife Raheen and his one-month-old baby, also returned later and were arrested. All except Yakub were let out on bail.
The Memon family’s lawyers, Harshad Ponda and Majeed Memon, were conspicuous by their absence in court during the verdict. Majeed Memon’s junior Subhash Kanse, who was present, said he was not prepared to argue on the sentence for his clients. So, the matter was deferred to Wednesday.
