The Supreme Court has refused to stop the hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon on Thursday. Yakub's last minute petition for mercy was also rejected by Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao.
The chartered accountant is to be hanged at a jail in Nagpur at 7 am tomorrow - his 54th birthday - for his role in the deadly terror attack in which 257 people were killed in blasts at various landmarks across Mumbai.
His final hope is President Pranab Mukherjee, who has his mercy petition. The President had rejected his plea last year.
The Supreme Court has rejected Yakub's argument that procedure was not correctly followed in his case and said that the death warrant against him does not violate any fundamental right.
Yakub had asked the court to stop his hanging on grounds that rules were violated. His lawyer had argued in court that the death warrant was illegal because it was issued in April, before he had exhausted every legal option; his curative petition challenging the Supreme Court's ruling had not been heard then. It was rejected last week.
Some of the victims of the 1993 blast met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today and said that Yakub must be hanged without delay. "I have signatures of 1,600 people - given in just two hours - who all want Yakub to be hanged," said Tushar Deshmukh, who lost his mother in the blasts.
Of the 11 sentenced to death for the terror attack, Yakub was the only convict not granted mercy.
Yakub's brother Tiger Memon, the main accused along with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been missing since 1993.
