R&AW chief B. Raman had dubbed the return of Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon to India after a year of living under the close supervision of the ISI in Karachi, “a historical Intelligence achievement.” But with the case coming to a close, and Yakub — the lone convict in the 1993 serial bomb blast case who is on death row — set to face the gallows, the mystery over whether he ‘surrendered’ or was ‘arrested’ remains.
What did happen? The CBI maintains they arrested him from New Delhi Railway Station in August 1994, that four of its officials were waiting, after a tip-off on the phone and they arrested him at about 4.30 that morning. Yakub was carrying a briefcase full of incriminating documents.
But this was at complete variance with his statement during the trial, under section 313 of CrPC before the judge, where Yakub says he surrendered before the CBI. His lawyer, Advocate Farhana Shah says he surrendered under certain conditions and that the Central agency reneged on their promises. Shah also says Yakub provided documents to CBI that helped them prove that Pakistan was involved in the offence.
She asks “Can you believe that after so many people were arrested in connection with the bomb blast, one of the accused, who is a wanted man, comes back to India, on a Pakistani passport and with other Pakistani documents, to commit another crime?”
She claims her client, born and brought up in India was innocent and wanted to come home and live a normal life. She also claims that in an interview after his arrest, he had claimed that he came back to India to prove that it was the government of Pakistan and not the Memon family that was behind the blasts.
Another lawyer on condition of anonymity said that it was pointed out to court that not a single witness has said that Yakub was present during any conspiracy meeting, the landing of arms or attending training in Pakistan.
Most important, he never gave a confessional statement and that it was the statement of the co-accused and the confessional statement of an approver talking about Yakub’s involvement that was accepted by the court and formed the basis for his conviction. Witnesses have spoken about presence of Tiger Memon at all these places. There is not an iota of doubt about the involvement of Yakub and other members of the family in the conspiracy and their cooperation with the ISI till July 1994.
