NEW DELHI -- There is a "very serious" threat to Supreme Court Justice Dipak Mishra's life, Delhi Police said on Friday.
The judge, who headed the three-member bench that gave the final judgment on Yakub Memon's mercy petition, ruling he should hang to death because of his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, received an anonymous threat letter on Wednesday. Cops are saying that this isn't a prank and have deployed heavy security for the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.
"It appears that the threat to Justice Mishra is of a very serious nature," said a senior police officer. "As of now we are ruling out that this is just a prank."
The handwritten letter sounds out a warning to the judge, claiming that he would not be spared and that the senders have already arrived in the city.
According to Vijay Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), the letter was detected by a security officer near the gates of the judge's residence on Wednesday night.
A case under IPC 506 (criminal intimidation) and IPC 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) has been registered at Tughlaq Road police station on his statement. Security has also been tightened at the residences of the other two judges in the case, P C Pant and Amitava Roy.
Justice Dipak Mishra (headed bench on Yakub Memon death penalty) rcvd threat letter, security tightened at his house pic.twitter.com/tDi67YJ0E1
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 7, 2015
Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the anonymous letter was posted by people who had conducted a recce of the area. They managed to post the letter without being caught by security personnel stationed outside the judge's residence. They also knew where the CCTVs are installed in the house, and how they could escape detection.
"It seems that the suspect or suspects knew that the back entrance to his residence has a thick cover of foliage and CCTVs would not be able to capture someone who throws the letter," said the officer. Though it is unclear when the letter was dropped at his residence, it was found on Wednesday evening during a routine security check.
Justice Dipak Mishra (headed bench on Yakub Memon death penalty) rcvd threat letter, security tightened at his house pic.twitter.com/tDi67YJ0E1
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 7, 2015
His staff was immediately alerted, and Delhi Police was told about the letter. By 10 pm that evening, Senior Special Commissioner of Police (Law & order) Deepak Mishra visited the judge's house, and oversaw a security audit. Now staff from Delhi Police and Central Para Military Forces have been posted at Justice Mishra's residence, and police is keeping a sharp lookout for any miscreants.
The Supreme Court had rejected Yakub Memon's last-minute plea at 5 am on last week, just two hours before the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict was scheduled to be executed in the Nagpur central jail.
"We don't think in a case of this nature, granting further time is necessary," Justice Dipak Misra had said on early Thursday morning, immediately after the final order was read out in court. The court had reopened at 3 am and arguments had gone on for over an hour.
The three-judge bench of the apex court last week ruled that Memon's brother's plea, which was rejected in April, couldn't be considered separate from the mercy plea filed by Memon which was rejected late Wednesday night by President Pranab Mukherjee. Memon's lawyer's had asked for a 14-days stay on his execution, based on a recent SC judgment that requires such a gap must be given after rejecting the mercy plea of a death row convict before he is executed. This is to allow the convict to mentally prepare himself for his execution and meet with family.
However, the court ruled that ample time had been given to Memon earlier to present his case, following which he was executed.
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