CNN IBN reports that President Pranab Mukherjee has sent 12 files to Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for his recommendation. Government sources tell the channel that a decision on Afzal Guru can be expected soon.

NDTV reports: The Congress' Digvijaya Singh had tweeted hours after Kasab was executed, "Finally Kasab hanged. GOI should pursue the case of the Handlers in Pakistan. Afzal Guru's case should also be expedited now."

He was in rare consonance with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted minutes before the senior Congress leader, "What about Afzal Guru, who attacked Parliament, our temple of democracy, in 2001? That offence predates Kasab's heinous act by many years."

Ajmal Kasab's swift execution this morning has brought attention to another prominent prisoner on death row, Afzal Guru, who was convicted for conspiracy in the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004.
 
Guru's death sentence was scheduled to be carried out on October 20, 2006, but was stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition. The Home Ministry had recommended in August last year to then President Pratibha Patil that Afzal Guru be hanged. But Rashtrapati Bhawan is yet to move on that file.