New Delhi: Just days after the President rejected the mercy plea petition of Nirbhaya gang rape case convict Mukesh Singh, Vinay Kumar Sharma, another convict in the case, too have filed a mercy petition before the President, his lawyer informed.
Given this new development, it is unlikely that the hanging will take place on the fixed date.
Mukesh Singh had earlier moved the Supreme Court against the President Ram Nath Kovind's rejection of his mercy plea petition on January 17 but his case by hastily dismissed by the apex court.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said that expeditious disposal of mercy plea by the President doesn't mean non-application of mind by him.
Ajay Thakur, another convict in the case has also filed a curative petition against the death warrant.
The trial court has issued black warrants for the execution of all the four convicts -- Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar -- at 6 am on February 1.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless), was gang-raped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.
(With inputs from PTI)
