Veerappan aides’ execution dates to be decided on Monday

A Mysore court on Monday will decide the dates for the execution of the four associates of Veerappan convicted in the 1993 Palar blast case.On Wednesday, President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy petitions of Gnanaprakash, Simon, Meesaikara Madhaiah and Bilavendra were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004 for killing five policemen, 15 police informers and two forest guards in a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka, near the Tamil Nadu border, on 9 April, 1993.

Meanwhile, family members of the convicts are shocked over rejection of their mercy plea by President Pranab Mukherjee.

This comes amidst efforts to stay the execution with the city-based advocate Venugopal, who represented two of the four convicts in the Mysore TADA court, plans to move the high court. The advocate has offered legal assistance to Meesaikara Madhaiah lodged at Hindalga jail in Belgaum. There are grounds to question the rejection of the clemency petition, he stated. The four were initially convicted for life. They have undergone their life term given that they were arrested in 1993. As per the Constitution, two sentences cannot be awarded for the same crime, he argued.

Venugopal said he has represented both Meesekar Madaiah and Simon and is ready to take up their legal battle again arguing that their clemency petition was attended very mechanically.

The Mysore district and sessions court is likely to take up an application from the department of prison on Monday. ADGP (Prisons) K V Gagandeep said the date of execution is likely to be decided on Monday. The dept of prisons has moved the court seeking a date, he explained. Hindalga Jail has been conducting rehearsals for their execution.