Dhananjay Chatterjee, who was scheduled to be hanged on Friday for raping and murdering schoolgirl Hetal Parekh 14 years ago, may get a reprieve for some more time due to a mercy petition filed by his brother, Bikas Chatterjee, before the President of India A P J Abdul Kalam.

Supreme Court vacation bench comprising Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P V Reddi, who stayed the execution of the convict, would hear the Special Leave Petition filed by Bikas Chatterjee challenging the order of West Bengal governor rejecting the mercy petition filed before him.

"There is a standard procedure that the execution of a convict is stayed by the home ministry if a mercy petition is pending before the President of India," press secretary to the President told rediff.com

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Khan said the mercy petition was received by Rashtrapati Bhavan 15 days ago and was forwarded to the Union home ministry for verifying facts and other details that were needed by the President.

"Now it is for the ministry to decide how much time it would take to send the papers back to the President. We understand they have written a letter to the West Bengal government asking for details. The moment the papers are back the President would not take much time to decide it is one way or the other. The mercy petition has got nothing to do with the hearing in the Supreme court," Khan said

Bikas Chatterjee and Dhananjay's wife in their mercy petition have prayed to the President that the convict has already undergone 14 years of imprisonment and the family has suffered while fighting the legal battle.

Dhananjay's aged parents,the petition said, would not able to survive his execution and may die in grief.