With no hangman in Tihar, where the death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya rape-and-murder case are lodged, the jail authorities have approached other prisons in the country to provide them with a hangman, sources said.

They said informal talks are underway with Uttar Pradesh prison authorities.

The Union Home Ministry on Friday recommended President Ram Nath Kovind to reject the mercy plea filed by Vinay Sharma, one of the convicts facing the gallows for the rape and murder of the 23-year-old paramedic student.

A day later, Sharma withdrew his plea, saying it was sent without his consent.

Nirbhaya was gang-raped on Dec 16, 2012. She later succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Singapore. The brutality of the rape had shocked the nation and triggered massive protests.

The Supreme Court on Dec 12, 2018, dismissed a PIL seeking direction to the Centre to execute the death penalty awarded to four convicts Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay and Akshay in the case.

Located in West Delhi, Tihar jail is the biggest prison in the country and has had high-profile inmates. Former Union minister P Chidambaram was lodged there for 106 days and was released after the Supreme Court granted him bail last week.

The 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was the last person hanged in the prison. He was hanged by a Tihar jail personnel in Feb 2013.