Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
By Dheeraj Fartode
As the clock ticked away, Suleiman Memon, elder brother of Yakub Memon and latter's cousin, Usman, spent restless night in their hotel room. Lodged at Hotel Dwarka in busy Sitabuldi locality, both brothers provided solace to one another, providing. Both were glued to TV, as they held on to glimmer of hope that Yakub's hanging slated for early Thursday morning would get postponed. Both hardly slept even as city police kept a hawk's eye on the two, said hotel employees who served the guests.
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| Memon brothers Suleman and Usman walking towards car on Thursday morning. |
Outside a pose of policemen and horde of newspersons, photographers, cameramen, too stayed awake wanting to have comment from either of Memon's brothers. Early morning when Usman came down for a chore, he was flocked by waiting newspersons, particularly aggressive channel reporters who thrust mike and tired to get his say on the matter. A panicked Usman quickly retraced his steps and went back and holed-up in his room.
The two brothers were also in constant touch with Delhi based lawyers, as latter kept them abreast of fast paced developments. The two surfed through news channel trying to get latest news on the developments in Supreme Court, which was opened past midnight to hear Yakub's lawyers.
At around 2 am, a constable arrived at the hotel and handed over a sealed packet from Nagpur Central Jail authorities. The packet had a letter from Jail Superintendent informing details of hanging of Yakub slated for later in the morning.
The brothers finally lost hope around 5 am on Thursday when TV channels started flashing the news of the dismissal of last ditch attempt of Yakub's lawyers to get 14-day reprieve for the Bombay blasts convict. Emotions got better of the two brothers and their eyes swelled-up, said Hotel sources. Sources also informed that the brothers were also asked by jail authorities to reach at Central Prison by 8.30 am. “There was a communication between jail authority and Memon brothers,” said a police official in know of the things.
The brothers left Hotel Dwarka at around 8.15 am and impatient media jostled to click pictures and one possible comment form either one of them. Officers of Sitabuldi Police managed to clear the path for Memon brothers who later travelleed in a Maruti Versa car. The car directly drove to Central Jail where jail authorities handed over the body to the brothers after completing legal formalities.
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