03 June,2011 07:08 AM IST | | Agencies
State started countrywide search after President rejected mercy plea of Mahendra Das on May 27
Authorities in Assam have launched a countrywide search for a hangman to execute a 49-year-old murder convict, officials said yesterday.
The hunt for an executioner began after President Pratibha Patil May 27 rejected the mercy petition of condemned prisoner Mahendra Nath Das along with Khalistan militant Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar's plea.
The last execution in India was carried out in a Kolkata jail in August 2004 when Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged for raping and killing a schoolgirl.
"The gallows is in place for the execution but the problem is non-availability of a hangman. We are searching for an executioner from outside Assam," said Brojen Das, jailer of Jorhat prison.
Mahendra Nath Das, currently lodged at the central jail in Jorhat, about 300 km east of Guwahati, had killed a 68-year-old man on April 24, 1996.
After committing the crime, the killer carried the severed head and the blood-dripping blunt weapon to a police station and surrendered.
He was sentenced to death by the sessions court in 1997. His appeal in higher courts was rejected. Even his final plea for clemency was turned down by the President on May 27.u00a0
"I am still hopeful and pray my son's death sentence is reversed and made into life imprisonment," said 74-year-old mother of Mahendra.
The Jorhat central jail is the only prison in Assam with facilities for execution at least five people were hanged at the jail since India's independence in 1947.
The last execution at the jail took place in 1990.
The last execution in India was carried out in a Kolkata jail in August 2004 when Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged for raping and killing a schoolgirl.
