India hangs Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to death; buried inside Tihar jail complex

NEW DELHI: Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on Saturday morning atTihar Jail, was buried inside the prison complex soon after his execution.

“He (Guru) was buried near jail number three,” a top Tihar Jail official said.

Guru spent over 10 years years on death row in the Tihar prison and was hanged at the jail at 8 AM in an operation shrouded in secrecy.

The mercy plea of 43-year-old Guru, who was sentenced to death in 2002 by a special court and later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005, was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee a few days back, Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Venu Rajamony said.

The body of Guru was buried in Tihar Jail itself as it was done in the case of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, who was buried in Pune’s Yerwada jail soon after his execution.

Union home secretary RK Singh said President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the mercy petition of Afzal Guru on February 3.

On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine persons.

Parliament House attack convict Afzal Guru hanged to death at 8am

Parliament House attack case convict Afzal Guru was hanged to death inside Tihar Central Jail on Saturday morning.

The hanging took place in complete secrecy at around 8am with only a limited group of officials and home minister Sushilkumar Shinde knowing the operation to execute Afzal’s death sentence.

His mercy plea, which had been pending since 2006, was rejected by the President Pranab Mukherjee last week after getting the file from the home ministry on January 23.

Confirming Afzal Guru’s hanging, the Union home secretary R K Singh says the home ministry got Afzal Guru’s file, rejecting his mercy plea, from President House on February 3.

Afzal Guru was convicted for his role in the attack on Parliament in 2001.

His hanging took place in as secret an operation as it had happened in the case of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was hanged to death in a Pune jail in November last year.

Afzal Guru was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2005. His hanging, scheduled for October 2006, was stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition on his behalf to the then President.