New Delhi, Feb 9: Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged this morning, walked to the gallows in a peaceful and composed frame of mind.
"He was very peaceful and calm during the final moments. He looked very composed," a top Tihar Jail official told PTI.
The official said Guru's family was informed about the execution. Guru spent nearly eight years on death row in the Tihar prison. He was convicted in the audacious attack on Parliament in 2001.
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 2004, was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee a few days back, Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Venu Rajamony said.
Guru walked to the gallows at around 7.30 AM and appeared calm, a top Tihar Jail official said.
A former fruit merchant, Guru was sentenced to death along with Delhi University professor S A R Gilani and Shaukat Hussain. Hussain's wife Afsan was let off.
Gilani was, however, let off by the High Court in 2003 while the sentence of Guru and Hussain was upheld.
The Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty of Guru in 2005 while in the case of Hussain, it was commuted to 10 years.
The Home Minister said Guru's case was recommended by the Home Ministry in 2011. "After that there was a new President and a new Home Minister. The President sent Guru's file to the Home Ministry.
"We sent it to the President on January 21, 2013. On February 3, the President sent Guru's file rejecting the mercy plea to the Home Ministry.
I put my signature on February four and sent it for further execution to the department. The due procedure was followed and it was then decided that the hanging will take place on February 8 (today) at 8 AM," he said.
He is the second Kashmiri militant who has been hanged after JKLF leader Maqbool Bhat who was executed on February 11, 1984.
