While most of Mumbai slept, superstar Salman Khan unleashed a flurry of tweets against fugitive don and terrorist Tiger Memon, saying he and not his condemned brother Yakub be hanged for the 1993 serial blasts that killed 257 and injured 713. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Yakub Memon's last-gasp appeal against his July 30 execution today. Starting around 2 am, Salman posted 14 tweets in an hour. The explosive tweets, flaying Memon in English and Hindi, began with “Hang tiger'' and ended with “Hang that...fill in the blanks“. The actor's 13 million Twitter followers 'favourited' and re-tweeted them in a frenzy starting at sunrise. By sunset, a mellower Salman, rapped by his scriptwriter father for tweeting material that had the “potential to create misunderstanding“, retracted the tweets and apologized.

The earlier tweets roused social media, raising the hackles of politicians, religious activists and special public prosecutor in the blasts trial Ujjwal Nikam, who objected to the judiciary's 'undermining.' Protests broke out nationwide against Salman Khan's tweets on Sunday. The actor's effigies were burnt and demonstrations led by BJP workers were held outside his Bandra residence. Around 5 pm, Salman tweeted, “I would like to unconditionally apologize for any misunderstanding I may have created (sic) unintentionally.“

The actor's pro-Yakub tweets came a day before the Supreme Court was to hear the terror convict's plea to stay his hanging, fixed for July 30 at Nagpur Central Jail, where he is lodged in a solitary cell. Also on Sunday, more than a dozen prominent citizens, including senior lawyers, politicians, filmmakers and activists signed and submitted a fresh plea to President Pranab Mukherjee to pardon Yakub. The relevant tweet by Salman was: “1 innocent man killed is killing the (sic) humanity.“

Nikam said in the morning, “Salman is trying to undermine the image of the judiciary. This is objectionable. He ought to withdraw the tweets.“

But former special Tada judge P D Kode, who sent Yakub to the gallows in 2007, said the actor was “entitled to his opinion“. “People have a habit of expressing (themselves), knowingly or unknowingly, on matters without any basis.“

The actor's father, Salim Khan, seemed to agree. He said his son's “tweets are meaningless“. “He is ignorant about the issue and his tweets should not be taken seriously.“

Angry Shiv Sena workers blackened posters of Salman-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan at Satara and disrupted the movie's screenings, which were also disrupted at Mahad in coastal Konkan. Sena chief Uddhav Thackery, though, said such tweets must be ignored.

The BJP was more virulent in its reaction. The party's Mumbai president Ashish Shelar submitted a letter to governor C Vidyasagar Rao, requesting cancellation of bail granted to Salman by the Bombay high court in the 2002 Bandra bakery case.

State revenue minister Eknath Khadse said those sympathizing with Yakub should also be punished and offences should be registered against Salman, MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and others. Lawyers said the actor should “desist from making irresponsible statements“ given his huge fan following.

Security for actor
The police deployed heavy security outside Salman Khan's Carter Road residence following his tweets on Sunday.By late morning, more than 100 BJP workers had gathered to protest against the actor. To counter them, a group of 20 Samajwadi Party (SP) workers led by the party's city unit chief Farhan Azmi arrived. Around 50 BJP workers and all of the SP gathering were detained. The police said Salman was at his Panvel farmhouse at the time. A senior police officer said that by making derogatory references to Tiger Memon, Salman has invited trouble upon himself as the gangster is a vindictive person. -- S Ahmed Ali