Supreme Court stays death penalty in Coimbatore double murder case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of a man convicted in a rape and double murder case in Coimbatore nine years ago.vA bench headed by Justice RF Nariman stayed the execution of convict Manoharan till October 16, 2019, the next date of hearing.

Manoharan was scheduled to be executed on September 20, 2019. The bench said that it is granting one last opportunity to convict to argue his review petition.

On August 1, 2019, the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty of Manoharan and said that the offence fell under the "rarest of rare" category. On October 29, 2010, Manoharan and co-accused Mohanakrishnan had picked up the girl and her seven-year-old brother from outside a temple when they were preparing to go to school in Coimbatore.

They had brutally gang-raped the girl and tried to kill the minor siblings by poisoning. After they did not die, they threw the minors in a canal where they drowned.

Mohanakrishnan was later shot dead by the police in an encounter.