State spent 49 lakh on Yakub Memon hanging

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government spent Rs49 lakh on the execution of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts accused Yakub Memon. The cost includes fees paid to senior counsel hired by the government to fight the case in the Supreme Court, expenditure for hiring a chartered six-seater plane to bring Memon’s body to Mumbai from Nagpur, where he was hanged, and the funds spent on upgrading facilities at the Nagpur Central Jail, where the execution took place on July 30.

“We recently cleared the bill of Rs22 lakh towards fees of the senior counsel, who appeared on four occasions including for the hearing held at midnight, hours ahead of the execution. The attorney general of India had represented the state government in the Yakub Memon case,” said a home department official, who did not wish to be named. “Besides the fees paid to senior advocates, the cost incurred on hiring the charter plane to bring his body to Mumbai was Rs4 lakh. We have recently settled all bills, and the file is closed.”

The file related to the execution of Memon has been given special status, invoking provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the Official Secrets Act, thus making it inaccessible under RTI.

Although the government had hired a special plane, Memon’s body was brought back on an Indigo flight, after his brother and other relatives opted not to fly by the special plane, as they were more in numbers than the capacity of the charter plane.

Before the hanging, the state had made a special allotment of Rs22.99 lakh to upgrade the infrastructure at the Nagpur prison.

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