Mumbai: Ajmal Kasab`s mercy petition, addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, has been "rejected" by Maharashtra`s Home Ministry, days after the lone surviving perpetrator of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks set in motion the last option available to save his life.
"The Home Ministry has rejected Kasab`s petition and has forwarded it to the Chief Minister`s Office," sources in the home department told a news agency today.
Under the rules, the Chief Minister`s Office would now forward the mercy plea to the Union Home Ministry, which in turn would send it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan with its recommendation.
There has been a demand from several quarters for speedy implementation of the apex court order, upholding Kasab`s death sentence.
Shiv Sena had recently demanded that President Pranab Mukherjee "summarily dismiss" Kasab`s mercy petition.
Kasab had moved his plea earlier this month, over a fortnight after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
The nearly four-year legal battle launched by the 25-year-old had ended on August 29 when the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence in the 26/11 attacks case, saying he killed without "the slightest twinge of conscience."
PTI
