Supreme Court stays execution of Veerappan aides

, Feb 18: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of four aides of slain forest brigand Veerappan till Wednesday. The four associates had approached the apex court seeking commutation after President

rejected their mercy petition on February 13. Their execution was reportedly scheduled for Sunday morning.

Giving the stay order, a bench comprising Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and justices AR Dave and Vikramjit Sen said the writ petition would be heard on February 20. The petition on behalf of the four convicts was filed by advocate Samik Narain. He was given the liberty to amend and rectify it after objections were made on its maintenance by Attorney general GE Vahanvati, who was asked to assist the court. The four convicts moved the Supreme Court on Saturday.

The four, namely, Gnanaprakash, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran, were given death sentence in 2004 in connection with a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka 20 years ago which claimed lives of 22 policemen. A TADA court in Mysore had awarded them life sentence in 2001 and it was enhanced to death sentence by the Supreme Court.

The four convicts are lodged in a jail in Belgaum in Karnataka.

OneIndia News