Indian president rejects clemency for 1993 bombings plotter Yakub Memon

Shortly after lawyers for Memon, and activists met with India's chief justice to ask for a 14-day delay

NEW DELHI: India's president on Wednesday rejected a last-ditch plea to stay the execution of Yakub Memon for his role in the country's worst ever attack, Press Trust of India reported.

President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his petition for clemency just hours after the Supreme Court in New Delhi ruled that he should die for his role in attacks that killed hundreds of people in Mumbai in 1993.

Shortly after lawyers for Memon, the only one of 11 people convicted to have his death sentence upheld on appeal, and activists met with India's chief justice to ask for a 14-day delay, local media reported.

Read: India's top court dismisses last-ditch appeal of 1993 Mumbai bombings death-row convict

Menon is set to be hanged at the Nagpur jail in western Maharashtra on Thursday morning, according to media reports.

Authorities in Nagpur have barred people from assembling outside the jail and beefed up security in sensitive areas in Mumbai.

The Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of Air India and a luxury hotel were among about a dozen targets of the March 1993 blasts, which killed 257 people in the deadliest attacks ever to hit India.

Earlier on Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Indian Supreme Court rejected the last-minute petition, clearing the last judicial barrier to executing Yakub Memon just hours before he was due to be hanged in Nagpur jail on Thursday, his 53rd birthday.

The governor of Maharashtra state, whose capital is Mumbai, rejected an appeal for mercy, his office said.