Rediff.com looks at other sensational murder mysteries that left India shell-shocked.
Bangladesh's decision to execute Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed in 1971 has provoked anger across the Muslim world. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka hours after the execution, an important expression of India's support to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, explains Rajeev Sharma.
The increase in home-grown radicalised Islamic groups and the rise of Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Bangladesh should be a matter of worry for India, which shares a 4,100 km border with its eastern neighbour, says Rajeev Sharma.
People pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur and protests broke out after Friday prayers in at least four other cities in Uttar Pradesh over a non-suspended BJP leader's recent remarks on Prophet Muhammad.
However 10 others expected to have faced the firing squad, including nationals from Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, were not put to death.
India-born surgeon Jayant Patel, facing charges of manslaughter and negligence for the death of 13 of his patients in Australia, was arrested by the Federal Buureau of Investigation at his home in the US state of Oregon. Patel, 57, who faces life imprisonment if convicted, was ordered held by Portland Judge Hubel, pending a bail hearing on Thursday.
Faktoo, who is in jail since 1993, is the husband of Asiya Andrabi, also a separatist leader and chairperson of Islamist organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's decision for early release of Rajiv Gandhi's killers invited a sharp reaction from the Congress, which termed it as "irresponsible, perverse and populist".
Purohit eventually cleared them only after obtaining legal opinion from the state Advocate General.
'She had the courage to not cow down before the entire law and order apparatus, to remain sane and human despite inhuman suffering meted out to her and her family.'
The 27-second video was released a day after it claimed to have killed five Indian soldiers while retaliating to India's "unprovoked ceasefire violation" in Tatta Pani sector along the LoC.
The disgrace is compounded by the fact that the 81-year-old self-styled godman is already serving a life sentence in a Jodhpur jail for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.
Whichever way the verdict goes, it will be a win-win for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa ahead of the assembly election next year. A favourable verdict, it will be a boost for her because she took the decision to release the convicts. She will once again try to usurp the Tamil card and use it to silence her political rivals. If the verdict goes against her, she can still claim the moral high ground. R Ramasubramanian explains.
According to an Amnesty report, at least 1,032 people were executed in the world, other than China, of which 87 per cent took place in just four countries -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.
The attested report of Court Martial General will also be included in the dossier.
The Supreme Court on Saturday stayed till March 31 the execution of death penalty of two of the four convicts in the December 16 gangrape and murder case, a couple of days after the Delhi high court upheld their punishment awarded by the trial court.
The NCERT has dropped references to the demand for a separate Sikh nation of Khalistan from the class 12 political science textbook following objections from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), according to top education ministry officials.
Here are five important points the International Court of Justice made while delivering its verdict and staying execution of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav.
Mahsa Amini's tragic custodial death in Tehran has triggered protests across Iran. Defiant, jean clad women minus their tunics and hijabs are marching in unison and shouting 'Down with the dictator' Women in Iran have been pushed to the wall and are no longer willing to abide by the restrictions placed on them, explains Rashme Sehgal.
Pakistan through its consulate in Netherlands came to know that the ICJ ordered India to submit a response by September 13.
Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial.
As a part of the commemoration, the right-wing outfit also plans to hold blood donation camps and distribute literature.
Far-reaching procedural and institutional reform, and not the death penalty, is needed to tackle the endemic problem of violence against women in India, stated human rights organisation Amnesty International India, after a New Delhi court sentenced to death four men in the December 16 gang-rape case.
Was the death sentence provoked by a retired Pakistani colonel going missing in Nepal, presumably abducted by Indian agents?
India has made a fresh demand in a reply to Pakistan's request to send 24 Indian witnesses to record their statements in the case
The common man in India is bogged down by corruption and there is a need to fix accountability at all levels, the Supreme Court observed on Friday as it dealt with a petition seeking debarment of those against whom charges have been framed in criminal cases from contesting elections.
'The othering of religious groups inevitably leads to violence.' 'It is sadly a narrative that has echoed through the centuries since man first discovered God.'
Back in 2007, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt had profiled Yakub after he was sentenced to death by the Terrorist and Disruptive Actives (Prevention) Act court for criminal conspiracy and financing air tickets to send co-conspirators for arms and RDX training to Pakistan.
Triggering controversy over capital punishment to Yakub Memon in Mumbai blasts case, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday sought to know whether the perpetrators of demolition of disputed structure in Ayodhya, communal riots of Mumbai and Gujarat and other such sensational cases would get a similar punishment.
'The death penalty exists in India for murderers. Is it a deterrent and does it stop murders?'
Mulayam's last rites will be performed with full state honours in Saifai near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh
The civilian leadership informed the military authorities that Sharif's hour-long meeting with Jindal was a part of back-channel diplomacy. And Jindal had the backing of some important Indian officials for the meeting to defuse ongoing tension between the two countries, the report said.
'The prowess with which they executed the shootings unmistakably bear the imprint of someone who has had professional training.'
Back in 2007, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt had profiled Yakub after he was sentenced to death by the Terrorist and Disruptive Actives (Prevention) Act court for criminal conspiracy and financing air tickets to send co-conspirators for arms and RDX training to Pakistan.
The long queue outside Cellular Jail is a testimony to its place in India's national consciousness. The Andamans is also where the only British viceroy was assassinated and where Bose unfurled the Tricolour for the first time in 1943.
A 27-year-old Indian-origin woman, convicted of arson leading to her husband's death two years ago, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in the US state of Texas.
Salve was the lead counsel for India in the Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice which had last year ruled that Pakistan must review the death sentence awarded to the retired naval officer after a closed trial.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens.
India's communication to Pakistan on Thursday made clear its position that the consular access must be 'unimpeded'
Rediff.com takes a look at some cases from the recent past where the courts awarded the capital punishment for horrific crimes that fall under the rarest of rare category.
