The Supreme Court on Monday stayed till further orders the death sentence awarded to Yaqub Memon in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice R V Raveedran also granted bail to Tiger Memon's brother Essa Memon alias Anjum Abdul Razak Memon, who was awarded life imprisonment by the TADA Court in Mumbai.
The apex court also issued notices to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the appeal of Yaqub and on the bail applications of Rubina Memon, Yusuf Abdul Razak Memon, Sardar Shah Wali Khan, Muzamil Umar Kadri, Khalil Ahmed Sayed Ali Nazir and Zamir Sayed Ismail Qadri for February 5.
Earlier, counsel for the petitioners contended before the court that Essa had already undergone 12 years of imprisonment and also challenged the conviction of the petitioners by the TADA court. The petitioners contended that the court had committed a grave error in appreciating the evidence produced by the CBI and the case against the petitioners had not been proved beyond all reasonable doubt by the CBI.
The CBI has, however, supported the trial court's judgment and contended that the convicts were involved in the conspiracy, which claimed over 200 lives on March 12, 1993, when Mumbai was rocked by a series of bomb blasts.
The conspiracy was reportedly hatched to settle scores for the 1992 communal riots, which had taken place in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, in December 1992.
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