New Delhi: One of the convicts, Vinay Sharma, in the Nirbhaya gangrape case has been shifted to Tihar Jail from Mandauli. This comes after Vinay Sharma moved a plea addressing President Ram Nath Kovind for the immediate withdrawal of his mercy petition. Sharma claimed that he had never signed the document.

According to reports, as per the letter sent to President and the ministry of home affairs, Sharma sought cancellation of the plea and also stated that the mercy petition forwarded was sent without any authorisation and his consent.

Meanwhile, three other convicts - Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta are already in Tihar Jail.

Five men and a juvenile had gang-raped and murdered physiotherapy student Nirbhaya in a moving bus in Delhi in December 2012. One among them, Ram Singh, and another minor committed suicide and the other four are on death row.

According to reports, days ago, a directive was sent to jail superintendent Vijay Kumar Arora to prepare 10 hanging ropes. The direction came in the wake of the Union Home Ministry recommending President Ram Nath Kovind to reject the mercy petition of one of the convicts, Vinay Sharma. Though it is not known for whom these ropes are meant, the directive has triggered speculations that the ropes are meant for execution of the four convicts in the case.

While jail authorities have approached other prisons in the country to provide them with a hangman, a head constable with the Tamil Nadu Police has written to the Tihar Jail saying he is willing to be hangman for Nirbhaya's killers who are on death row at the Delhi prison.