#Nagpur #YakubMemon’s last wish was to meet to his daughter after he was told he had exhausted all hope of stalling the execution but the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict had to be content with a telephone conversation, jail authorities said on Thursday.
Prison officials arranged for Yakub to talk to his daughter in Mumbai after an emotionally-charged meeting with his elder brother Suleiman, hours before he was scheduled to be hanged for plotting the dozen blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai.
“He was very happy and cheerful after talking to his daughter,” a jail official told Shining India News , a fact later reported by Suleiman.
A disturbed Yakub broke down in front of his brother and remembered all family members, including wife Raheen and daughter Zubeida. who met the convict last week at Nagpur jail.
When Suleiman met jail authorities on Wednesday evening, the rattled officials requested him to persuade Yakub to eat as the “restless” convict had refused food for the past two days.
“Trust and imposed faith on the almighty. We are fighting for you and all the avenues are yet not exhausted,” Suleiman reportedly assured Yakub and informed him about a last-minute petition filed before the apex court.
He was hanged at 7am on Thursday following a dramatic late-night hearing when a Supreme Court bench said any delay in the execution would be a “travesty of justice”.
Officials said Yakub was served rotis and chicken legs with curry in his cell around 9.30 pm. Yakub ate only one roti and two legs of chicken.
A cake was also sent to Yakub inside Nagpur central jail at night from the jail authorities for his 53rd birthday but it couldn’t be confirmed if he ate the cake.
Suleiman and Yakub’s cousin Usman also spent a restless night as they tirelessly followed the news at their hotel in the busy Sitabuldi area as the hanging went down to the wire.
Both brothers, who came to take the body, constantly kept in touch with their Delhi-based lawyers but lost hope around 5am on Thursday when TV channels started flashing the news of the petition’s dismissal.
The last-ditch attempt to stave off the execution was triggered after President Pranab Mukherjee’s rejected his mercy plea the top court upheld his death warrant on Wednesday.
Bureau Report
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