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MUMBAI: Did terrorist and 1993 Mumbai bomb blast accused Dawood Ibrahim influence the swelling crowd at Yakub Memon's funeral procession?

According to Mumbai police sources, Dawood had called up his loyalists in the city and asked them to go in large numbers to attend Memon's funeral. "We have information that Dawood and his protege Chhota Shakeel had called up several of their cronies in the city and ordered them to attend the funeral and show solidarity," said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Police say this is the reason behind 10,000 people turning up at Memon's funeral in Mahim and another 10,000-plus crowd at Marine Lines Muslim cemetery where Memon was buried. But community leaders said that the real reason was curiosity among many who even did not know who Memon was. At the same time Muslims thronged in large numbers to attend funeral of a Muslim brother.

Meanwhile, sources said Dawood or Shakeel initially did not react as they were hopeful that the Supreme Court will accept Memon's mercy petition. "They felt that their any reaction would have adversely impacted Memon's petition and could be rejected due to this. And this is why immediately after Memon's hanging, Shakeel gave an interview and indirectly threatened of consequences. "Shakeel's threat is a threat to country and the recent threat to one of the approvers of the 1993 blast is handiwork of him," said an officer.

Poet gets death threat for FB post

Gaurav Chauhan, a poet from UP's Etawah district, who had posted a poem on Facebook demanding Yakub Memon's hanging, received death threats on his mobile on August 3. He registered a complaint on Thursday. Senior police superintendent Manzil Saini said the threats were made from a west Asian country and a number from east UP. A probe is on.