The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of a man convicted in a rape and murder of two siblings in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, nine years ago.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice RF Nariman stayed the execution of convict Manoharan till October 16, the next date of hearing as the convict’s lawyer wanted to inspect the records of the case which are lying in the concerned trial court.
On September 20, Manoharan was scheduled to be executed.
The bench, also comprising of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Surya Kant said that it is granting one last opportunity to convict to argue his review petition on October 16.
On August 1, the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty of Manoharan in a 2:1 judgement and said that the offence fell under the “rarest of rare” category.
On October 29, 2010, Manoharan and co-accused Mohanakrishnan had picked up the girl and her seven-year-old brother from outside a temple when they were on their way to school in Coimbatore. They had brutally gang raped the girl and tried to kill the minor siblings by poisoning. They finally threw the minors to a canal where they drowned.
The mastermind behind the gruesome crime, Mohanakrishnan was later shot dead in a police encounter.