The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended its stay on the hanging of four aides of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan by six weeks. Meanwhile, hundreds of people from bordering villages of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu held special prayers and silent protests at Martahalli in Chamarajanagar district, urging the President and Supreme Court to permanently commute the death penalty for the four Veerappan aides.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India deferred hearing on the plea saying it would wait for the verdict reserved by another bench which had heard a bunch of similar petitions.

“In our view, the proper course of action is to adjourn the matter until another bench renders its judgement on similar matters.

Therefore, accordingly we adjourn the hearing of this matter for six weeks to enable another bench to deliver the judgement in another pending matter,” the bench, also comprising Justice AR Dave and Justice Vikramjit Sen.