Four death-row convicts in Nirbhaya case likely to be shifted to Tihar's Jail No. 3 on Friday

The four death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya case are likely to be shifted to Jail No. 3 in Tihar on Friday, where their execution will take place on January 22, a senior jail official said on Thursday.

Currently, three convicts are lodged in Jail No. 2 and one in Jail No. 4.

The Tihar Jail authorities have written to the Uttar Pradesh prison authorities, seeking the services of two hangmen from the state to execute the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case.

According to a court order issued on Tuesday, the four convicts are to be hanged at 7 am on January 22.

"We have written to the prison authorities of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday seeking the services of two hangmen, depending on availability," a senior Tihar Jail official said.

He added that of the two hangmen, one was very old. The other -- Pawan Jallad from Meerut -- has already expressed his willingness to hang the four.

All the four convicts are likely to hanged simultaneously.

The jail authorities were also holding conversations with the convicts on a daily basis to ensure that they were in a good mental state, the official said.

Last month, before the death warrants were issued, the Tihar authorities had written to the Uttar Pradesh prison authorities, seeking the services of a hangman from Meerut, the official added.

A Delhi court pronounced the death warrants against the four convicts -- Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) -- on Tuesday.