President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petition of 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape, murder convict Mukesh Singh.
Singh, along with three others, is on death row and is lodged in an isolated ward at the Tihar jail. A court had fixed the hanging on January 22.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) forwarded the petition to the President on Thursday night, recommending that it be rejected and the President concurred with the suggestion.
Singh had filed the mercy petition a few days ago.
Chronology of events in Nirbhaya case
The Delhi Lieutenant Governor had sent the mercy petition to the MHA on Thursday, a day after the State government recommended its rejection.
Mukesh Singh (32), Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 a.m. in Tihar Jail. A Delhi court issued their death warrants on January 7.
However, the Delhi government informed the High Court during a hearing that the execution of the convicts will not take place on January 22 as a mercy plea had been filed by Mukesh.
