Beant Singh killler demands hanging

Balwant Singh Rajoana, facing death in the Beant Singh assassination case, has dared the state authorities to execute him.

In a four-page letter Rajoana has said that he did not need mercy on any count and would wish to be hanged as soon as possible.

His mercy petition, filed by the SGPC, has been pending with the President for about a year.

" I never appealed for any mercy . Why is the Shiromani Akali Dal trying to save me ? I stand by my cause ( of killing chief minister Beant Singh), hang me please", said the letter circulated by his sister Kamaldeep Kaur.

Last year chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal, who is deputy chief minister, had called on the President to revise the execution order as it could lead to deterioration of law and order situation in the state.

By an earlier order, he was to be hanged to death on March 31 last.

"Akali leaders start speaking up when then fear they losing support in their fiefdom. Their attempt to drum up support for me is to just win over Sikh community. They used my name before Moga by-polls and now they want to use it during the crucial 2015 Lok Sabha polls," the letter said.

Rajoana has said that after Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's execution, major political parties were asking one another to clear their position on his hanging.

Rajoana was convicted for the assassination Beant Singh on August 31, 1995.