Mumbai (Maharashtra): Police have registered a case against two persons for allegedly selling the grave of Yakub Memon, the only convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case to be hanged, an official said on Saturday.
Memon was buried at Marine Lines Bada Kabrastan in south Mumbai on July 30, 2015 after he was hanged in Nagpur central jail.
"A relative of Memon had approached the Lokmanya Tilak Marg police station in March with a complaint that his grave has been sold," the official said.
"The Memon family has been given total seven 'otthas' (graves) at the cemetery. The complaint said that besides Yakub's, three more graves given to the family were sold at Rs five lakh collectively," he said.
Police have initiated an investigation and booked two persons who were trustees of the Juma Masjid of Bombay Trust under which the Baba Qabrastan (grave) is registered.
According to the provisions of the Waqf Act, the Qabrastan properties registered under the Waqf Board cannot be sold or purchased. The cemeteries are given to families for maintenance purpose.
READ: Attack on ex-navy officer 'deplorable' - Rajnath Singh
In the complaint, the relative stated that the sale took place between January and September in 2019. He also claimed that the receipts from the cemetery office had forged signatures and the transactions are not reflected in the computer records of the Juma Masjid Trust.
Based on the complaint, an offence under IPC sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) was registered against two persons on March 19 this year- one of them a trustee and another manager of Juma Masjid of Bombay Trust, under which the Muslim Bada Qabrastan is registered, he said.
"Due to the COVID-19 situation, police have launched a probe into the case now," he said. Yakub, a chartered accountant by profession was the younger brother of another 1993 blast accused, Tiger Memon.
READ: Dabbawalas urge Maharashtra govt to permit them local train travel
