Beant Singh murder: SC grants 'last chance' to Centre to decide on commuting Rajoana's death penalty

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Supreme Court Monday granted "last chance" to the Centre to decide within two weeks on Balwant S Rajoana's plea seeking commutation of death penalty in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassination case.

The Centre sought three weeks to decide on the plea saying the government is examining the issue and needs time under the present circumstance.

A bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, why does government needs three weeks, what is it doing? The bench said that "three weeks' time sounds unreasonable to us. We had told you to do it by January 26. Today is January 25".

Mehta said that under the present circumstances, it is advisable to have the matter after three weeks.

The bench said, "We are giving you last chance. Two weeks".

During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, said that this man is in jail for last over 25 years and his mercy petition is pending for last nine years.

Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted for his involvement in an explosion outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others in 1995.