No mercy for Beant killer: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah said that the death sentence of Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has not been commuted.

Shah made the announcement in the Lok Sabha while responding to Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, Beant Singh's grandson, during Question Hour.

Referring to Monday's debate in both the Houses of Parliament, the Ludhiana MP asked the Home Minister "why did you commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana?".

The Home Minister's statement was contrary to the reports published last month which said that the Union Home Ministry had commuted Rajaona's death sentence.

Rajoana, 52, who is currently lodged in Patiala Central Jail, is the prime accused in the case and he will now serve life imprisonment.

A former Punjab Police constable, Rajoana was sentenced to death on August 1, 2007 by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Chandigarh and his execution was scheduled for March 31, 2012.

The Home Ministry this September had approved the commutation of Rajoana's death sentence to a life term as a humanitarian gesture ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, a decision which was criticised by Bittu.