Threat letter to SC judge

Justice Dipak Misra had rejected Yakub’s mercy plea

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Dipak Misra, part of a three-member panel that had rejected 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon's mercy plea, has received a threat letter, police said on Friday. Misra received the letter at his New Delhi residence after which he lodged a complaint at the Tughlaq Road police station.

Memon was hanged on July 30 after the apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Prafulla C. Pant and Justice Amitava Roy post-midnight rejected Memon's plea seeking 14 days' time before the execution of his death sentence.

"We have registered a case on the basis of the judge's complaint. We are scrutinising the letter to verify its authenticity. We are also finding out if its a prank played by someone or is circulated by the associates of Memon," police sources told IANS.

Senior police officials could not be contacted for a comment despite repeated attempts and some of them denied commenting saying "it is a very sensitive matter and is under probe".

Maharashtra denies Tiger Memon's 'revenge' call

Mumbai: The police denied on Friday reports that absconding underworld criminal and prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts Tiger Memon called up his family and threatened to avenge his brother Yakub Memon’s hanging last week.

Tiger purportedly rang up his mother Hanifa at her Mahim residence barely 40 minutes before Yakub’s hanging on July 30 and vowed "vowed" to "avenge" his brother's death and "make them pay for it", according to a newspaper report.

But Mumbai Police said no such conversation took place. "We want to clarify that we do not have any such intercepted conversation and we also clarify that such said transcript does not belong to Mumbai police," said deputy commissioner of police Dhananjay Kulkarni. Investigators say Tiger and Dawood Ibrahim were behind the series of blasts that rocked India’s financial capital in 1993, killing 257 and injuring hundreds. Tiger and Ibrahim have been absconding ever since while key conspirator Yakub was executed on June 30 after the Supreme Court turned down his final petition in a dramatic late-night hearing. In the reported conversation, a distraught Hanifa is heard sobbing and asks Tiger to stop the violence. "Stop this, due to the first incident, I have lost Yakub. Now I can't bear to see any more people dying.”

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad – which is equipped with the latest snooping devices – also denied any such calls from Tiger. As many as 260 people were killed and more than 700 injured in the the dozen explosions which ripped through India's financial capital in July 1993. Mushtaq Tiger Memon, one of the prime accused in the blasts case, is a member of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's gang and is wanted by the Interpol and CBI. Tiger's role in the blasts had been confirmed by the special court after the conviction of the others accused in the case.