Dhananjoy may not be spared

The Union home ministry has reportedly recommended that rapist-murderer Dhananjoy Chatterjee's mercy petition be rejected as the convict had committed a reprehensible and unpardonable crime.

The file containing the recommendation is now awaiting the signature of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil before being despatched to Rashtrapati Bhavan for final disposal by President A P J Abdul Kalam.

Chatterjee faces death by hanging for raping and murdering 14-year-old Hetal Parekh in Kolkata in 1990. He had approached the President with a mercy petition. The latter in turn sought the Union home ministry's opinion on the matter.

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The home ministry had subsequently asked the West Bengal government about the case and sought its opinion on the mercy petition filed by Chatterjee's wife and brother in the middle of June.

Sources in the ministry said Chatterjee's was one of the first files that new Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh dealt with.

"The President is yet to receive the report from the government," a top official in Rashtrapati Bhavan told rediff.com on Friday.