Supreme Court declines to commute death penalty of Beant killer

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down the plea of death convict Balwant Singh Rajoana who sought commutation of his sentence to life imprisonment in the assassination case of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and left it for the Centre to take a call on his mercy plea "as and when it is deemed necessary".

A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol rejected his plea for commutation of sentence on the ground of delay in deciding mercy plea after noting that clemency plea was not filed by him but by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee in 2012. The court also accepted the plea of the Centre that the assassination case has not attended finality as appeal filed by another convict and CBI in the case is still pending in the apex court.