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JALANDHAR: Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, the death-row convict whose plea seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment was recently turned down by the Supreme Court, has received support from an unexpected quarter: former Punjab and Maharashtra DGP SS Virk. Virk told TOI on Friday that Bhullar was not guilty of what he was being accused of. Bhullar was convicted for the 1993 Delhi bomb blastthat killed nine people. "Bhullar not only should be given clemency for spending 18 years in jail, but he also deserves justice as he and his family have been wronged," said Virk. "I fought terrorism almost my entire professional life but I firmly believe that it is my duty to speak out if injustice is being done." Virk said he had studied Bhullar's case and it belonged to the rarest-of-the-rare category. "Bhullar was awarded death penalty despite a split judgment in this case," he said. "The presiding judge of the Supreme Court bench, Justice MB Shah, had acquitted Bhullar and there was no clinching evidence against him except his 'confession' in police custody." Virk said even former militants had vouched for Bhullar's innocence. "A number of ex-terrorists, who later joined the mainstream, had told me that Bhullar had refused to participate in any terror-related activity even when he was in hiding after his father and uncle were picked up by the police and eliminated," he said. "From these queries, a picture of a well-educated young engineering teacher emerged, not that of a dreaded militant he was made out to be." Virk, a Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer who retired in 2009, received the Padma Shri for fighting militancy in Punjab. A terrorist's bullet had hit him in the jaw at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1988 On April 12 the Supreme Court had dismissed Bhullar's petition seeking commutation of his death sentence. A Delhi court had convicted Bhullar for the 1993 bombing and sentenced him to death in 2001; in 2011 then President Partibha Patil had rejected his mercy plea. Three days ago, on May 7, Bhullar's wife Navneet Kaur Bhullar had moved the apex court, requesting a stay on his execution. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Former-Punjab-DGP-says-Bhullar-deserves-clemency/articleshow/19994378.cms?intenttarget=no