Supreme Court reconfirms death penalty for a man in 2010 rape and killing case

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday reconfirmed the death penalty for a man who was found guilty for "horribly" gang-raping a minor before killing her along with her brother in Coimbatore in 2010.

In a majority judgment of 2:1, a bench headed by Justice RF Nariman said there are no grounds to review convict Manoharan's death penalty as he has committed a grave offence.

While Justices Nariman and Suryakant dismissed the review plea, Justice Sanjiv Khanna wanted to give review petition a chance and the culprit man.

"In view of the majority judgment, the review petition stands dismissed in its entirety," the bench said.

Last month, the top court had stayed the man's execution and said it would hear arguments on his plea seeking review of its August 1 verdict which had confirmed his death penalty.

Terming the offence as "shocking" and "cold-blooded", a three-judge bench, by a majority of 2:1, had upheld the verdicts of the trial court and the Madras High Court to award death penalty to the convict saying that the offence fell under the "rarest of rare" category.

In the horrible incident, the victims were first tied and then poisoned. To ensure their death the two were thrown in the Parambikulam-Axhiyar Project canal where they drowned.