Dharampal shifted to Ambala prison for `execution`

After his mercy plea was rejected by the President, Dharampal was on Friday shifted to Ambala prison from Rohtak jail "for further action".

Rohtak: After his mercy plea was rejected by the President, Dharampal, a rape convict who later murdered the victim and four members of her family, was on Friday shifted to Ambala prison from Rohtak jail "for further action".

According to officials, Dharampal will soon be hanged in Ambala jail. "Since there is no requisite arrangement to carry out the execution of Dharampal in Rohtak jail hence he has been sent to Ambala jail," DSP (Jail), Dayanand Singh said. He said that date of his execution would be fixed by the state authorities after going through technicalities in this regard. The DSP said that Dharampal was shifted to Rohtak jail from Ambala in August 2012 following the directives of Haryana DGP (Prisons). Earlier, Dharampal, who belongs to Shahpur Turk in Sonepat district adjoining Rohtak, had moved an application before the jail authorities to shift him to Rohtak jail, the officer said. While Haryana has 19 jails, only the ones in Ambala and Hisar have the requisite facilities for hanging. "In Haryana, Hisar and Ambala jails have all essential arrangement to carry out the execution of convicts. Therefore, Dharampal has been sent back to Ambala for further action," said Singh. In 1991, Dharampal was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment for raping a girl in Sonepat. After his release on parole in 1993, Dharampal along with his brother, Nirmal, murdered the girl, her father Tale Ram, mother Krishna and brothers Teenu and Praveen when they were sleeping at their house. Dharmapal and Nirmal were sentenced to death by a Sessions Court on May 5, 1997 and it was retained by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 29, 1998. However, the Supreme Court converted Nirmal`s death penalty to life imprisonment but Dharampal`s death sentence was retained. His mercy petition was rejected by the Union Home Minister in 2000. Later, Dharampal filed a mercy plea to the President in 2005 which was rejected after about eight years. PTI