Prez set to reject 2 mercy pleas

New Delhi: After giving clemency to 63- year- old Man Bahadur Dewan alias Tote Dewan of Assam, President Pranab Mukherjee is set to reject mercy petitions of Antony from Kerala and Shivaji Shanker Alhat, from Maharashtra.

After giving clemency to 63- year- old Man Bahadur Dewan, alias Tote Dewan of Assam, President Pranab Mukherjee is set to reject mercy petitions of Antony from Kerala awarded death sentence in the sensational 2001 Aluva murder case and Shivaji Shanker Alhat from Maharashtra awarded death sentence in the rape and murder of a minor in 2002. Both cases have recently been sent by the Union home ministry to the President for rejection of clemency.

With this, the MHA under Rajnath Singh has no files pending with it of death row convicts.

Till now, Mr Mukherjee has rejected mercy petitions of 22 death row convicts at a stretch. Antony was sentenced to death for murdering six members of a family in January, 2001. The high court confirmed the death penalty in 2006 and later the SC too upheld the lower court’s verdict. His mercy petition was filed in 2013 and the MHA under Rajnath Singh has sent his file for rejection of clemency to the President, top sources said.

The MHA has also rejected the mercy petition of Alhat, a former school teacher facing death sentence for the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in January 2002.