Rajkumar, whose death sentence upheld by Madhya Pradesh High Court on June 27, moved the apex court as a warrant was issued for the execution of his sentence for tomorrow.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, before whom the matter was mentioned, agreed to stay the execution of the sentence till further order and issued a notice to the state government on his appeal against the conviction.
In this case, the convict raped and then strangulated the girl at her house when her parents were away on December 26 last year.
The trial court had on February 5 awarded death sentence to him. Aggrieved by the order, he approached the High Court which on June 27 dismissed the plea.
