Merely five days after his mercy petition was rejected by the President, the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was carried out in the Tihar jail here today.
"The President rejected the mercy petition of Afzal Guru on February 3 and after that I gave my approval on February 4 and the date and timing was confirmed by a judicial official. He was hanged at 8 o'clock this morning," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said at a press conference here.
Shinde said mercy petition of Guru was first recommended for rejection by the Home Ministry in 2011 and after Pranab Mukherjee took over as President last year, he had returned all pending mercy petitions for reconsideration sent by him (Shinde) after he took charge of the Home Ministry in August 2012.
"The new President sent back all mercy petitions for reconsideration... I examined the file carefully and recommended to the President on January 21 for rejection of Afzal Guru's petition," he said.
Published 09 February 2013, 06:29 IST