Tiger Memon’s brother, 1993 blasts convict, dies in prison

Yusuf Memon, a 1993 serial bomb blasts convict, suffered a heart attack and died in Nashik Central Jail on Friday morning. The 53-year-old was the younger brother of fugitive Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razzaq Memon, alias Tiger Memon, one of the masterminds of the blasts that killed 257 people and injured more than 1,000 others when bombs went off at 12 locations across Mumbai on March 12, 1993.

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Yusuf, who was convicted to life imprisonment in 2007 by a TADA court, was brushing his teeth around 10.30am when he complained of chest pain to his brother, Issaq Memon, and collapsed, said Pramod Wagh, Superintendent of Nashik Central Jail.

“Yusuf was rushed to Nashik civil hospital where he was died during treatment at 11am,” said Wagh, adding that Yusuf had “no known medical condition” and his body has been sent to Dhule Medical College for a post-mortem. “We have informed Altaf Shaikh, a family member of Yusuf, about his death.”

Yusuf was sharing a cell with Issaq – also convicted in the 1993 blasts case – and 13 other prisoners. He was earlier lodged at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai and later moved to Aurangabad prison. On December 12, 2018, he and Isaaq were shifted to Nashik, said Wagh.

Another Memon brother, Yakub, who was arrested in the blasts case and convicted, was hanged in 2015 at Nagpur Central Jail.