New Delhi, Mar 20 (IANS): Senior Tihar Jail officials were busy with the preparations for the execution of all the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case for the last 36 hours.

The Director General of Tihar Jail, Sandeep Goyal, Inspector General Raj Kumar and Jail No. 3 Superintendent Sunil didn't come out of the jail premises since Wednesday as they were busy preparing for the hangins, which finally took place in the early hours of Friday, more than seven years after the gruesome crime was committed in December 2012.

The Tihar administration also asked for extra security ahead of the execution of the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta. Additional forces from West Delhi along with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were deployed to maintain the law and order situation in and around the jail premises.

Sources said that hangman Pawan Jallad also didn't sleep for the whole night ahead of the hangings. He placed the four ropes that were used for the hangings at their respective places at 3 a.m. on Friday before executing the death penalties at 5.30 a.m.

The Metropolitan Magistrate and the SDM will now fill the panchnama and the bodies will be sent for postmortem. The Deputy Commissioner and the assigned doctor will sign the death certificates.