The Supreme Court today stayed the execution of death sentence of Surinder Koli for killing children in a house in Nithari village in Noida in 2006. A bench comprising Justices H L Dattu and A R Dave stayed the execution for one week.

An official of the apex court said that the plea in this regard was mentioned before the bench after midnight and the order was passed at 1:40 am. The official said, the order has been communicated to the jail authorities concerned.

Koli was to be hanged early this morning in Meerut jail, where he has been kept in a high-security barrack. The application on behalf of 42-year-old Koli was moved by a team of lawyers led by a advocate Indira Jaising.

The lawyers sought review of the apex court's 24th July order dismissing the plea to stay the execution of death sentence awarded to Koli.

While seeking stay of execution of the capital punishment, Jaising, along with other advocates referred to the September 2 verdict of the apex court in which it had held that the review plea of condemned prisoners must be given an open court hearing.