What Yakub Memon did the night before his death?

Nagpur, July 30: Yakub Memon was finally hanged after much legal drama that lasted till 4.49 am this morning. At the Nagpur central jail where Yakub was lodged preparations had commenced at 5 am itself. Yakub was awake all night and did not speak much to anybody. He was finally hanged at around 6.40 am.

Officials tell OneIndia that he had pretty much resigned to his fate. He never had any hope from all the legal proceedings that were taking place before his hanging. He hardly spoke and was calm and this was an indication he knew what was coming.

Officials say that it was his family members who were hopeful till the last minute. Each time his family members would visit him, he hardly spoke. He hardly spoke to his lawyer who would inform him about the legal course of action that they were exploring.

The last few hours at Nagpur prison

For the jail authorities it was a hectic night. There was enough and more drama all through Wednesday, July 29 which began with the hearing before the Supreme Court of India. Officials say that they had prepared everything since the day the TADA court fixed the date for the execution.

However, there were many ifs and buts and when the Supreme Court for the first time took a divergent view after the curative petition was dismissed some doubts lingered on, the official also informed. 'It was our job to keep everything ready because in normal course there is no further legal recourse.'

'However, when he filed a second mercy petition, we had to wait until we got an official communication from Rashtrapathi Bhavan regarding the decision.'

The decision of the President was communicated to us by 11 pm. However, we were informed that another petition was filed before the Supreme Court. We had no option but to wait for the decision, the official said.

The walk to the deathly gallows

"The decision of the Supreme Court was conveyed to us by 5.15 am. Yakub Memon was awake at that time. In fact he did not sleep at night. There was a constant vigil on his cell as per the rules," the official informed.

Yakub then took a bath, wore new clothes following which he said his prayers. Following this he was taken to the gallows and the execution carried out. Yakub Memon's body was in suspended animation for 30 minutes as the rules mandate.

The doctor then certified him as dead by 7.01 am following which the body was brought down from the gallows. A postmortem will be conducted to certify the cause of death. This is done to be on the safer side always, the official said.

The family will have to make a request for the body and a final call will be taken to hand it over or not if the jail authorities are satisfied that there would be no public display. The decision is entirely up to the jail authorities who can involve the district magistrate in this decision making process.

OneIndia News