TNI Bureau: On Thursday, a political firestorm erupted after a Marathi news channel reported that Yakub Memon’s grave at Bada Qabristan in Marine Lines had been beautified and turned into a memorial.
Memon, the convict in the 1993 Mumbai bombings, was hanged to death in 2015 on terrorism charges, and his funeral was held under tight security. Soon after the report aired, the BJP charged Uddhav Thackeray and then MVA government of establishing a terrorist memorial. A police investigation has been launched, and Uddhav Thackeray has been asked to apologise.
However, the police soon discovered that the beautification work was done by Memon’s family, not the then MVA government, and it gradually expanded to an entire plot where 14 other members of the Memon family are buried.
Following that, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that another high-level committee would investigate the grave’s beautification, as well as whether the government was purposefully kept in the dark.
The Mumbai police also asked the bada qabristan’s caretakers to remove the LED lights that had been placed around the graveyard on Thursday.
Both the Shiv Sena and the Congress have since gotten involved. “The BJP’s allegations against us are without merit.” The question here is why the body was given to the family. The grave’s beautification was completed five years ago, when we were not in power. A BJP counselor controls the ward in which the grave is located. “The BJP should answer if their leaders are to blame for these developments,” said Shiv Sena leader and opposition leader Ambadas Danve.