Mumbai: Yakub Memon, convicted and sentenced to death in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was finally hanged at the Nagpur central jail on Thursday on his 53rd birthday but not before the Supreme Court of India, perhaps for the first time, opened its doors around 3am to hear the final plea against his execution.

However, the three-judge bench of the apex court in a dramatic court hearing rejected his plea and ruled in the early hours, much before India could arise, that the convict was given ample opportunities.

“It will be a travesty of justice if the death warrant is stayed in a case of this nature,” the court ruled in a verdict.

Memon’s lawyers had cited a Supreme Court judgement in another case that he can’t be hanged for at least 14 days after his mercy plea was rejected.

In Memon’s case President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his second mercy petition late on Wednesday.

A series of coordinated bomb explosions took place across India’s financial hub Mumbai on March 12, 1993 killing 257 people and injuring over 700.

Memon, a Mumbai-based accountant, was convicted of organising finance and logistics for the bombings. The charges against him included criminal conspiracy and assisting an act of terrorism.

He was one of the more than 100 convicted in the case by an anti-terrorism court, but the only one whose death penalty was upheld by India’s Supreme Court.

The others included gangsters, customs officials, housewives, a top Bollywood film star and several members of Memon’s family.

Memon is the younger brother of Ebrahim Memon, also known as Tiger Memon, the main conspirator in the blasts who is alleged to have fled to Pakistan. Dawood Ebrahim, India’s most wanted fugitive, is said to have plotted the blasts in 1993 along with the Memon brothers and others.

The Supreme Court which had earlier commuted the death sentence of 10 death row convicts in the 1993 blasts case to life, the men who had planted the explosives had described Memon as the mastermind and driving force.

“Since Memon and the other absconders were the real conspirators” the court described them as the “archers whereas the rest of the appellants were arrows in their hands”.

Kirti Ajmera, who was severely injured in the bombing at the stock exchange, welcomed the hanging.

“I’m happy that justice has been done, although it has been delayed by 22 years, but ultimately I will not be satisfied until Tiger and Dawood are punished too,” the 58-year-old said.

Activists, politicians and lawyers who campaigned for a stay on the execution pointed out how the blasts followed communal riots after the Babri Masjid which was demolished on December 6, 1992 by Hindu zealots.

Ever since the death warrant was issued by the TADA court in April this year, Memon fought every legal battle for a stay on his execution.

A political war of words erupted on Thursday over the execution, with a section of opposition leaders speaking against the death sentence.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh fired the first salvo, saying that the BJP- led government should show “similar commitment” in all cases of terror as it showed in Memon’s case.

“I hope similar commitment of the government and the judiciary would be shown in all cases of terror, irrespective of their caste, creed and religion,” he said in a tweet.

Communist Party of India (CPI) parliamentarian D. Raja, meanwhile, said that the death penalty should be done away with in the country.

“India should say an emphatic no to capital punishment.... It does not mean we do not have sympathy with those [blast victims’] families, but by snatching away one life will not bring back all those lives,” Raja said.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and Hyderabad parliamenarian Asaduddin Owaisi said the government should ensure death sentence in all similar cases.

“Death sentence should also be given to Babu Bajrangi, Maya Kodnani, Col Purohit and Swami Aseemanand,” he said.

While Babu Bajrangi and Maya Kodnani are accused in the Gujarat riots, Col Purohit and Swami Aseemanand are accused in the Malegaon blast.

The ruling BJP slammed the leaders opposed to the hanging, Tharoor and Digvijaya Singh were foresaken by the Congress as well, which said it was their “personal views”.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the views were that of the leaders concerned and not of the Congress.

Former home secretary and BJP parliamentarian R.K. Singh said those making such comments did not have national interests on their minds.

“These people don’t think about national interest. Whether he [Yakub] had to be hanged or not was not to be decided by the government but the court, and the president uses his judgement after that...,” he said.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said justice had been done.

“Justice has been done; this increased the people’s faith in the judicial process. He got two decades to prove his innocence, and he was proven guilty,” he said.

Days before his hanging, the Maharashtra government and the Nagpur prison authorities had taken extensive security measures as well as preparation for the hanging itself. Law and order across the state was well under control as police and other paramilitary forces were deployed in sensitive spots where trouble could crop up.

Memon’s body was handed over to his elder brother Sulaiman and cousin in Nagpur and arrived by an air ambulance this afternoon and then taken to his family’s residence in Mahim.

Though a large crowd had congregated near his building, Mumbai Police issued an order that “nobody will photograph/videograph” his body during transportation.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni, “This step has been taken to ensure tranquillity and harmony in the city” and to prevent anti-national elements from provoking people and youngsters.” The ban will continue until midnight.

His funeral took place at the Bada Kabristan cemetery in Charni Road with the police not allowing Yakub’s family to carry the body in a procession.

—With inputs from agencies