Coimbatore murders: SC reserves order on death penalty

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on the plea of a Tamil Nadu man seeking the review of its verdict upholding his conviction and death sentence for raping a minor and murdering her and her sibling nine years ago.

A bench headed by Justice R. F. Nariman asked the Tamil Nadu government to file a written submission on his plea.

Convict Manoharan's counsel, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra told the bench that some circumstances including that his client could be reformed were not considered.

On August 1, the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty of Manoharan, saying that the offence fell under the "rarest of rare" category.

On October 29, 2010, Manoharan and co-accused Mohanakrishnan had picked up the minor girl and her seven-year-old brother from outside a temple in the state's Coimbatore when they were preparing to go to school.

They had brutally raped the girl and tried to kill the siblings by poisoning.

After they did not die, the duo threw the minors into a canal where they drowned.

Mohanakrishnan was later shot dead by police in a shootout.