Bhagalpur: The authorities of Shaheed Jubba Sahani Bhagalpur Central Jail here went into a huddle after receiving news that the President of India had rejected the mercy appeal of an inmate carrying capital punishment.

The issue at hand - how to properly execute the black warrant in the absence of any dom (hangman). The warrant is expected to reach from the apex court any time.

The black or death warrant is defined "as an official document stating that somebody should receive the punishment of being killed for a crime that they have committed".

Inspector-general of prisons, Bihar, Mithilash Mishra, confirmed the rejection of the mercy appeal of Jagat Rai and said the process of issuance of the black warrant by the court concerned was underway.

Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy appeal of the death row convict, who hails from Raghopur in Vaishali district. The lower court had on October 30, 2009, awarded capital punishment to Rai for his role in a brutal murder.

Patna High Court as well as Supreme Court of India rejected Rai's appeal against the lower court judgment and maintained the same punishment for him.

Repeated calls to the mobile of J.L. Prabhakar, the superintendent of Shaheed Jubba Sahani Bhagalpur Central Jail, through Saturday went unanswered.

Jail sources said after rejection of the mercy petition, the authorities had been taking special care of Rai. "We have started giving him one litre of milk as he demanded apart from taking special care for his food and health according to the jail manual," said a source in the jail.

There are altogether nine prisoners facing capital punishment at this central jail, said sources. "But Jagat is the first among them whose mercy appeal has been rejected by the President of India. The fate of other death row convicts hangs in the balance as their cases are pending at different levels.

The last execution of black warrant was carried out in this jail in 1995, when one Suresh Bahri, a prisoner from Ranchi, was hanged here. However, the hanging had snowballed into a major controversy at that time as the jail administration had engaged a daily wage scavenger to carry out the hanging.