Nirbhaya convict files mercy plea a day before hanging

New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) One of the death-row convicts in Nirbhaya rape case, Pawan Gupta, on Monday filed a mercy petiton before the President of India.He was the only convict who had not availed of the remedy of mercy petition. Another convict, Akshay, had last week filed another mercy plea, asserting that the previous one was "incomplete". The four convicts -- Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar -- are scheduled to be hanged at 6 a.m. on March 3.The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl, called later as Nirbhaya, in the national capital in December 2012. Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case. The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.
--IANS
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