Tihar jail seeks service of Pawan, hangman from Meerut, for execution of Nirbhaya convicts on Feb 1

New Delhi, Jan 18: A day after Delhi Court issued fresh death warrants against the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Tihar jail authorities have sought services of Pawan, the hangman from Meerut.

"Delhi's Tihar Jail has requested to avail the services of Pawan, the hangman from Meerut, for the execution of the convicts of 2012 Delhi's gang-rape case that is to take place on 1st February", news agency ANI quoted Anand Kumar, DG Prison as saying.

Pawan is the only certified hangman in Uttar Pradesh and is attached to the Meerut jail. He is paid a monthly salary of Rs 3,000.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedic student, was gangraped and brutalised on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus in south Delhi by the four men, along with two others, before being dumped on the road. She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Of the six persons convicted, one allegedly committed suicide in jail and another, a juvenile, was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

Earlier on Friday, fresh death warrants were issued against the four convicts - Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh and Vinay Sharma - in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case. The convicts will now be hanged on February 1 at 6 am.