Mumbai: Yakub Memon, who was hanged on Thursday for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, was born on July 30, 1962, in Mumbai where he grew up in Byculla and attended the Antonio D’Souza High School and later completed a masters in Commerce at the Burhani College of Commerce and Arts.
As the most educated man in the Memon family, he was the chartered accountant who managed the family’s finances. Authorities say that he played a crucial role in the conspiracy by assisting his brother, Tiger Memon, the main conspirator in this case, and Dawood Ebrahim in planning and executing the bombings. Memon is said to have used the funds, by funding the training of 15 youths who were sent to Pakistan to be trained in handling arms and ammunition, purchasing the vehicles used in the bombings and possessing weapons.
Memon continued his studies in jail, his hobby being to gain knowledge and pursue education. While an inmate in Nagpur jail, he did his masters in English Literature and Political Science through the Indira Gandhi Open University. It has been reported that he wanted his daughter, Zubeida, 21, to study hard and do an MBA. She was born a few days before he was picked up by Indian authorities in Kathmandu in 1994 and brought to India. Days before he was hanged, his wife, Rahin, was interviewed by a Marathi TV channel where she pleaded for pardon for him from authorities.
Memon always maintained that he was unaware of what his brother, Tiger, was conspiring and that he was paying for his brother’s conspiracy. Apparently, Yakub had hoped for clemency till the last minute but had to eventually except his fate.
He was hanged till death in the Fansi Yard of Nagpur jail under supervision of jail superintendent Yogesh Desai. A team of doctors declared him dead after about half-an-hour of the scheduled hanging when his body was brought down. A post mortem was conducted by a team from a Nagpur hospital and his body handed over to his brother, Sulaiman, and cousin Othman who brought him to his home in Mumbai.-
