Meet the man who will hang Afzal

All arrangements are in place at Tihar Jail in New Delhi to execute Mohammad Afzal Guroo on October 20 for being the mastermind behind the December 13, 2001 terror attack on Parliament.

Meerut's Mammu, the son of India's most infamous executioner Kalu, will string up Afzal, a highly placed Tihar Jail official told UNI on Sunday.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur, on September 26, issued a death warrant for Afzal to be executed at Tihar Jail at 06:00 am on October 20.

He will be hanged under the supervision of B S Jariyal, the Jailer of Tihar Jail Number 1. He will soon be shifted to Jail Number 3 where the execution is expected to take place. An order to this effect will be issued very soon, the jail official said.

Jariyal has been posted in Tihar Jail since 1981. In his tenure, he has superintended seven executions, which include that of Ranga and Billa in 1982 who were condemned to death in the high-profile Sanjay and Geeta Chopra murder case.

He also witnessed the execution of Maqbul Butt of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in 1984.

In 1985, in the Dr Vidya Jain murder case, he was also present during the hanging of convicts Kartar Singh and Ujagar Singh.

Jariyal was also an eyewitness to Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh's hanging in 1989. They were sent to the gallows for assassinating former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Meanwhile, the official said Afzal's brother Ijaz Ahmed met him in jail on Friday. After meeting him, Afzal looked calm and collected and he slept peacefully through Saturday night, he added.

Afzal has also been offering 'Namaz' five times a day ever since the death warrant was issued for him.

Afzal, who was imprisoned in Jail Number 3 after the court issued the warrant, was shifted to Jail No 4 on Friday owing to security concerns.

Afzal's brother said he would soon meet President A P J Abdul Kalam and seek clemency for him.

Jail authorities are apprehending that Afzal might commit suicide so an eye is being kept on his day-to-day activities and even his drawstring pyjamas have been replaced by ''elastic ones'' as they feel he might use a drawstring to end his life.

The authorities also fear a terror attack on Tihar Jail or in the capital in the wake of the death warrant for Afzal.