Even until the eve of his 53rd birthday, which was also the day he was supposed to die, Yakub Memon was hopeful that his hanging would be stayed by the President of India.


"On Wednesday evening, we told him the Supreme Court had rejected his plea. Yakub was very disturbed, but he told us that his mercy petition was still pending with the President and that the latter would accept it," said Yakub's Nagpur lawyer, Anil Gedam, who had gone to meet him with Yakub's brother Suleman Memon and cousin Usman.


Jail sources said that Yakub was hanged to death at the Nagpur Central Jail around 6.45 am yesterday, making it the 24th hanging in the jail and the 56th in the state since Independence. They added that two of the hangmen, who had allegedly hanged 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Qasab, hanged Yakub as well.


"Yakub kept repeating that he was going to be hanged for his brother's sins, if at all, and that he had not done anything wrong," said Gedam. Yakub had also signed some property papers, which were handed over to his family members on Wednesday night.  Read more