Memons too get their copies of TADA judgment
Soon after receiving a copy of the Tada court’s judgment, Yakub, who has been sentenced to death, was leafing through the voluminous judgment.
MUMBAI: Prison may have made him shed a few kilos, but Yakub Memon’s spirit is intact. Soon after receiving a copy of the Tada court’s 4,340-page judgment on Thursday, Yakub, who has been sentenced to death for his complicity in the 1993 blasts conspiracy, was seen leafing through the voluminous judgment.
Essa and Yusuf, the two other brothers of prime conspirator Tiger Memon, and their sister-in-law Rubeena also received their copies of the judgment, and surrendered in keeping with the Supreme Court order granting them interim bail. The trio has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Sixteen other convicts, including two women, Zaibunissa Kazi and Mubeena Bhiwandiwala, and former customs officer Somanth Thapa, were also handed judgment copies.
Yakub, a suave chartered accountant, was convicted for arranging finance, disbursing it among co-conspirators and facilitating weapon training in Pakistan. He is the only death row convict housed in Nagpur jail. Looking tired after his 24-hour road journey from Nagpur, Yakub met mother Haneefa, wife Rahin and eldest brother Suleiman, who was acquitted for lack of evidence. The Memon family patriarch, Abdul Razzak, died during the trial in 2001.
The entire Memon family had fled Mumbai before the blasts on March 12, 1993. Allegedly fed up of living under the shadow of Pakistan’s ISI, Yakub and eight others returned in 1994 to face trial.
Though the Tada court has questioned CBI’s claim that it arrested Yakub from Delhi railway station, it held that the family’s escape from India just before the blasts, clearly revealed that it was a party to the conspiracy. Tiger and his brother Ayub are still absconding.
Though the Memons were not party to the commission of the blasts, Judge Kode justified Yakub’s death sentence, stating, “It is a universally known fact that such a clever criminal not only remains at the back, but always takes care that he stays away from the clutches of law by taking all necessary steps to see their (sic) identity is not revealed to anybody.”
Though Yakub had pleaded innocence stating that he was dragged into the conspiracy because of Tiger, the Tada court held that “there is overwhelming evidence” regarding Yakub’s involvement in the conspiracy.
Suleiman’s wife, Rubeena, was sentenced to life imprisonment for allowing conspirators to use her Maruti van to ferry arms and explosives. Yusuf, who is schizophrenic, and Essa, who suffers from brain tumour and morbid obesity, were spared death penalty and sentenced to life imprisonment for knowingly facilitating acts of terror and allowing their flat and garage at Al Husseini to be used for storing arms and explosives.