The fate of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who has been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl in Kolkata, was on Friday virtually sealed with the Union home ministry advising President A P J Abdul Kalam to reject his plea for clemency.

The Ministry sent its report to the President observing that under the circumstances, the plea may be rejected, informed sources said.

Kalam had stated on Tuesday that 'right justice will be done' and that he was awaiting the report from the home ministry.

The President was speaking to reporters at Rashtrapati Bhavan after giving away Padma Awards to eminent
personalities.

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As is done in such cases, the President's Secretariat had sent the mercy petitions of Chatterjee to home ministry for its views.

The Supreme Court had earlier this month declined to entertain Chatterjee's plea against the West Bengal Governor's order rejecting his mercy petition on the ground that the President "is seized of the matter under Article 72 of Constitution".

This is Dhananjoy's second mercy petition before the President. His first one was rejected on June 23, 1994.

Dhananjoy was sentenced to death by a Calcutta Sessions Court on August 12, 1991 for the rape and murder of a teenager and the order was confirmed by the Calcutta High Court. Later, the Supreme Court also upheld the conviction and sentence in January 1994.