By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday temporarily suspended the death penalty of Yakub Memon, fugitive underworld don Tiger Memon’s accountant brother condemned to the gallows for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan also granted bail to Essa alias Anjum Abdul Razak Memon, sentenced to life in jail by a Mumbai special court for his role in the terror attack in which 257 people were killed.
The bench, which also included Justices Tarun Chatterjee and R.V. Raveendran, adjourned the hearing on the bail pleas of six other convicts of the case to Feb 5.
While Yakub Memon had been awarded death penalty for hatching the conspiracy, funding the terror attack and supplying weapons for it, Essa had been given a life term for letting his house be used for meetings and for storing arms and explosives.
Essa was granted bail as he has already undergone at least 12 years of imprisonment, and the Central Bureau of Investigation did not oppose his bail plea.
The six others, whose bail pleas will come up next week, included two more Memons, Rubeena Suleman and Yusuf Abdul Razak, as well as Sardar Shahwali Khan, Muzamil Umar Jkadri, Khalil Ahmed Sazad Ali Najir and Zamir Sagar Ismail Kadri.
Rubeena and Yususf Memon were given life terms for allowing their house to be used for conspiracy meetings and to store arms and explosives. They had also given their van to execute the blasts.
Sardar Shahwali Khan had been sentenced to life term and fined Rs.100,000 for hatching the conspiracy for the terror bombing while Muzzamil Umar Kadri was given life sentence and fined Rs.125,000 for arranging for the arms landing in Mumbai’s Shekhadi area and for taking part in the conspiracy.
Zameer Sayyed Ismail had also been given life sentence and fined Rs.125,000 for being a party to the conspiracy and arranging the arms landing at Mumbai’s coastal area in Dighi.
Khalil Nasir was given 10 years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs.125,000 for arms landing in Shekhadi.