According to the jail authorities, if the President rejected their clemency petitions, the execution of Nalini, her husband Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan would take place within a week. However, the exact date of hanging would be fixed by the special court at Poonamallee near here, they said. But the process could take a few more months, they explained.

P Nedumaran, convenor of the committee for the legal defence of the accused in the case, had announced that the clemency petitions would be submitted to the President.

While Murugan and Santhan are Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants of Sri Lankan origin, Nalini and Perarivalan are local residents.

The special court had in Januarylast sentenced to death all the 26 accused in the case, but the apex court had on May 11 last, confirmed the death penalty for four prisoners, commuted the sentence for Robert Payas, Jayakumar and Ravichandran to life-terms and acquitted the others.

While Nalini was lodged in the women's wing of the Vellore central prison, the three others were kept in separate cells in the men's wing. Relatives were being allowed to meet them for half an hour every fortnight. Murugan and Nalini were allowed to meet frequently.

The jail authorities said the gallows, which were used last way back in 1983 when a youth hailing from the city was executed after his conviction in a murder case, were being readied.

The most recent hangings in the state were in 1995 when "auto" Shankar and his brother-in-law Eldin were executed in the Salem and Madurai prisons after having been convicted in the sensational Tiruvanmiyur serial murder case.

If the President rejected Nalini's clemency petition, she would become the fourth womanin the history of the State to face execution. The three executions of women were in 1956, when Mangala Lakshmi, Rani and Angalammal were hanged at the Cuddalore, Salem and Tiruchirapalli central prisons.