: Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao today rejected the mercy petition of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon under Article 161 of the Constitution, dashing the hope he might have had of escaping the gallows.
"Governor has rejected the mercy petition of Yakub Memon under Article 161 of the Constitution", a release issued by a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.
Article 161 relates to the powers of a to grant pardon, reprieve, respite or remission of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
The Governor's decision on the petition, submitted by Memon on July 21 within hours of the Supreme Court rejecting his curative petition, came immediately after the apex court dismissed his plea seeking stay on his execution slated for tomorrow.
A TADA court had in April this year set July 30 for hanging Memon at the Nagpur Central Prison, where he is lodged.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court set up a three-judge bench to decide Yakub's fate after a two-judge bench was split on his plea seeking a stay on his execution.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said law will take its own course and appealed to the people to maintain restraint.
"Law will take its own course. I appeal to everyone to maintain restraint," Fadnavis told reporters at the Vidhan Bhawan.
The Supreme Court had earlier in the day refused to stay the execution of Memon, the lone death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, rejecting his last ditch plea to escape the gallows.
Twelve coordinated blasts had rocked Bombay, as the city was then known, on March 12, 1993, leaving 257 dead and over 700 injured.
