

The court ruling came after Mr. Kasab filed a special leave petition pleading for the suspension of his death sentence, his lawyer Gaurav Agrawal said. The Supreme Court will start a hearing on the petition from Jan. 31, Mr. Agrawal added.

Raju Ramachandran, a senior advocate who is advising the Supreme Court on the case, said the court was obliged by India's judicial system to hear the petition. He said both the petitioner and the respondent - the western state of Maharashtra where a court had passed the death sentence for Mr. Kasab in May last year - agreed that the case should be dealt with quickly.

Ujjwal Nikam, public prosecutor in the case, said the apex court's staying of the death sentence was a "routine procedure." "We are not disappointed; we believe in law," he said.

Mr. Kasab was convicted by a special Mumbai court for his role in the November 2008 attacks. After allegedly training in Pakistan, he and nine others traveled to Mumbai by sea, armed with AK-47 rifles and explosives. The group raided and killed people at two luxury hotels, a hospital, a restaurant popular with foreigners, a Jewish center and the city's main train station. The attacks led to increased hostility between India and Pakistan, with India alleging that the group it saw as masterminding the attacks, Lashkar-e-Taiba, had the support of the Pakistani state.

Mr. Kasab was the only gunmen to be captured; the others were killed by Indian security forces.

Write to Krishna Pokharel at