Nagpur, July 29: Teak trees stand tall within the thick fortified walls, many near the prison superintendent's bungalow. There's a small pond in one corner and a car-wash facility in another. Just outside, on a very busy road, is an emporium of hand-made products.
This is Nagpur Central Jail, home to Yakub Memon since 2007 when he was moved out of Pune's Yerawada Jail. Built in 1864, it is one of the country's oldest prisons and it is getting set for what could be the 24th execution since Independence on its campus.
Few talk of, or know of, the executions in this jail so far. Few know of Pantheyadi Nandal, the murder convict who was the first to be hanged on August 25, 1950, when Nagpur was still the capital of the Central Provinces and Berar. Or of the two young brothers executed on November 5, 1984, for the killing of some members of a family in Amravati. Or of the 21 executions in-between.
In the last few days though, the prison has been under an extraordinary glare. Yakub, the sole convict on death row in the 1993 Bombay blasts, could be hanged early tomorrow on his 53rd birthday.
Security has been beefed up around the prison, with police clamping CrPC Section 144 that prohibits the assembly of five or more persons. Elite commandos of the quick response team, set up after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, have been posted in and around the jail.
All roads to the city have been sealed and the police are scanning all entry and exit points.
Across Maharashtra too, security has been stepped up, state police chief Sanjeev Dayal said in Mumbai. Dayal and Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria briefly met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss security arrangements.
Although no official statement has been issued on the time of execution, a Nagpur prison source said it was likely to be at 7am if no fresh order stalled the process. Prison authorities today informed the state home department that Yakub was in good health.
Reports said his wife Rahin and daughter Zubeda had set off for Nagpur from Mumbai late this evening. They last met Yakub on July 23 along with some close relatives. Prison officials said they spent close to two hours with him. It is not clear if they will be able to meet him again.
Yakub's elder brother Suleman Memon and cousin Usman Memon - he has been camping in Nagpur for some time - were seen entering the jail this afternoon but it was not clear if they could meet him. Neither Suleman nor prison officials would comment.
Pushed by mediapersons outside the jail, Suleman said: "Please leave us alone, I have full faith in the Almighty."
Additional director-general of police (prisons) Meera Borwankar arrived from Pune to oversee the preparations. She is being assisted by deputy inspector-general of prisons Rajendra Dhamne and jail superintendent Yogesh Desai. Desai had overseen the hanging of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab at Yerawada jail in Pune during his stint there.
