>>MEMON CALM ON HEARING VERDICT,

Yakub Memon will be the first accused to be executed in the Mumbai serial blasts case that left over 250 dead

NAGPUR: Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon was calm and composed when informed about the Supreme Court’s rejection of the plea for commutation of his death sentence, a senior jail official said on Tuesday.

Found guilty of conspiracy in 2007 for the serial blasts that killed more than 250 people in Mumbai, he will be the only accused to be executed in the 1993 case.

Memon was silent, motionless and seemingly composed when the news of the court verdict was conveyed, a senior jail official said, wishing not to be named.

Memon’s cousin Usman and his lawyer from Delhi, S Farooqui, met him for an hour and a half at the jail on Tuesday morning. “He (Yakub) was calm and composed during our discussion. We have full faith in the laws of the land,” Farooqui said.

The death row convict’s wife Raheen and daughter are expected to meet him on Wednesday or Thursday. Earlier appeals against the death sentence were rejected all the way up to the Supreme Court and a mercy plea was turned down by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Memon, a chartered accountant, 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 the death of several people. His brother Ibrahim Memon (Tiger Memon), one of the main accused in the case, is missing since he left the country in 1993.

The date and time of execution have already been approved by the state government. However, it is still unclear whether the hanging will happen in Nagpur or at Pune’s Yerwada jail. There has been speculation that the convict may be moved to Pune at the eleventh hour, as was the case with 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab, and executed there.