Yakub Memon, Convicted Of Financing India's 1993 Blasts, To Be Executed This Month

Yakub Memon, who was found guilty of financing the serial blasts that rocked India's financial capital Mumbai in 1993 and killed over 250 people, will be hanged to death on July 30. The decision comes after the Supreme Court of India rejected his appeal to review the death penalty Tuesday.

Yakub was found guilty in 2007 for financing 13 serial explosions in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Yakub, who has languished in jail for over two decades, had repeatedly challenged his sentence, stating that he could only be held guilty for a conspiracy and not for executing the blasts, NDTV, a local news network, reported.

However, India's apex court confirmed Yakub’s death sentence last year and said at the time that his “commanding position and the crime of utmost gravity” necessitated capital punishment, the Indian Express, a local newspaper, reported. Yakub’s was the only mercy petition to be rejected as the other 10 people convicted in the case were given a reduced sentence of life in prison in 2013.

Yakub’s brothers Essa and Yusuf, and sister-in-law Rubina, were also found guilty of involvement in the blasts. Yakub’s brother Ibrahim, or Tiger Memon, and crime lord Dawood Ibrahim were the alleged masterminds of the blasts. In 2006, 100 of the 129 accused were found to be guilty by a specially designated court. Many of the 100, including Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, have so far evaded arrest or are missing.

The targets of the blasts included the Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of the national carrier Air India, and the now-demolished luxury hotel Sea Rock in the suburb of Bandra. Indian investigators reportedly believe the blasts were aided by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. However, Islamabad has denied the allegations, NDTV reported.

According to a report by DNA, a local newspaper, Yakub will be hanged at 7 a.m. on July 30 in Nagpur Central Jail.