The three Supreme Court judges who rejected a petition of Yakub Memon hours before he was hanged to death early on Thursday have been provided additional security following alerts from intelligence agencies. 

Justices Dipak Misra, Prafulla C Pant and Amitava Roy, who were asked by Chief Justice of India HL Dattu to hear the last-minute petition seeking 14-day stay on Memon's execution, had rejected it after a hearing in the wee hours on Thursday.

In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court judges held the hearing on Memon's final plea hoping to escape the gallows around 3.20 am. After a nearly 90-minute discussion, they rejected the plea, stating that delaying his execution would be a "travesty of justice". 

Memon, who was convicted of facilitating the 1993 Mumbai blasts that killed 257 people, was hanged to death at the Nagpur central jail on Thursday morning. 

The security of the judges was stepped up after intelligence agencies issued an alert, according to The Times of India.