The hangman was also kept in the dark on the identity of the death row convict till a few minutes before the execution which marked the culmination of the secret operation coded 'Operation X'.u00a0

As the 25-year-old lone Pakistani gunman in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack awaited his fate, the Maharashtra government also received several applications from persons expressing their willingness to do the job for free. "Earlier, the hangman used to get Rs 10. Now it is Rs 5,000. Although we had received several applications from persons expressing their willingness to do the job for free, the government felt it would be best if an authorised person does it," Home Minister R R Patil told reporters in Mumbai.