NEW DELHI: Even as the Supreme Court is all set to hear a curative petition filed by one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case on Thursday, another person found guilty of the brutal crime has now filed a mercy petition before President Ram Nath Kovind.

Convict Vinay Sharma's lawyer, AP Singh, confirmed the development and said that his client "died several times in prison" while judicial proceedings were on. "I am submitting this mercy petition with the hope that your good self will listen to my story when nobody did. This is the last chance I have to tell how the terrible circumstances of that fateful day in December 2012 changed my life forever... I want to tell you all this, so that you can decide whether death is the only punishment I deserve," news agency PTI quoted Vinay Sharma as stating in the petition.

The 26-year-old was supposed to be executed along with three others -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta -- on Saturday. However, with Akshay Singh challenging the decision in the Supreme Court, the date is now expected to be further delayed.

Akshay Singh's curative petition will be heard by the judges in their chambers, and not in open court. Even if the plea is rejected, he will then have the option of sending a mercy petition to President Kovind.