Vellore: The death sentence of the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case has been confirmed. The authorities at the Central Jail here have been instructed to carry out the sentence of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan on September 9. The authorities say the three convicts have been informed of the order.

Over two decades after the assassination of former Prime Minister, President Pratibha Patil had turned down the mercy petitions of three convicts in the case recently. The rejection of the clemency petition of the assassins came nearly a decade after the SC upheld their death sentences.

The apex court had commuted the death sentence of Nalini Sriharan, an Indian Tamil woman convicted in the case and Murugan’s wife, to life imprisonment.

The home ministry had sent its opinion on June 21, 2005, which was called back for review on February 23, 2011 and re-submitted to the President this March 8.

As per the provisions, the President is the last authority to commute death sentence of a convict in the country. However, there are an increasing number of people on death row who have exhausted all legal options but whose execution is yet to be carried out.

The last execution in India was in 2004, when a 41-year-old former security guard was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old.