Return Of Sri Lankan Prisoners Released In Connection With The Assassination Of Rajiv Gandhi
The four Sri Lankan nationals were released from Vellore Jail on November 12 in the evening and transported to a special refugee camp in Trichy district, according to Trichy district collector Praveen Kumar.
One of the seven prisoners was released in May thanks to the Supreme Court’s extraordinary powers, AG Perarivalan. On November 11, the court declared that the same order applied to the remainder. It was stated that the Governor was bound by the Tamil Nadu cabinet’s 2018 recommendation that the prisoners be released.
Six months after the Supreme Court on May 18 granted the release of AG Perarivalan, the first of the seven convicts in the case, on the grounds of poor health and good behavior, the remaining six prisoners were freed. Perarivalan, Nalini Sriharan, Murugan alias Sriharan, Santhan, P Ravichandran, Robert Payas, and S Jayakumar were the seven prisoners that were apprehended in 1991. Four of them, including Sriharan, Nalini’s husband, are nationals of Sri Lanka.
Six convicts were ordered to be released early by a bench of justices led by BV Nagarathna and BR Gavai on November 11.
According to a report from HT on November 12, only Santhan, one of the four Sri Lankan nationals, desired to return to the island state. The other three, Payas and Jayakumar, both of Trichy, desired to visit their families in the Netherlands and Nalini’s husband, Sriharan, desired to remain with their daughter in London.
Legal authorities claimed that these four’s case was complex.
After 31 years, Nalini Sriharan is released from prison
Five of the six life-term prisoners in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case — Nalini Sriharan, her husband Murugan, and Santhan, Robert Payas, and Jayakumar — were formally released from Tamil Nadu jails on November 12 evening, a day after the Supreme Court ordered their release. Additionally, RP Ravichandran, a prisoner, was soon to be released.
Nalini Sriharan, who was already on parole, went to the neighborhood police station to fulfill her obligation to show up. Nalini was released from the Vellore special prison for women after completing the necessary procedures. She then traveled to the central prison, where her husband V Sriharan, also known as Murugan, and Santhan were also freed.
Due to the fact that Murugan and Santhan are both citizens of Sri Lanka, they were transported in a police car to a refugee camp in the state of Tiruchirappalli.
Two other Sri Lankan citizens, Robert Payas and Jayakumar, were also transported to the refugee camp after being released from the Puzhal prison. These two were picked up at the Puzhal prison by Perarivalan, the prisoner who was released in May, and his mother Arputhammal.
The Supreme Court had stated that the prisoners had demonstrated satisfactory behavior, obtained degrees, published books, and engaged in social service while ordering their release.
Nalini Sriharan’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2000. Later in 2014, the sentences of the remaining six offenders were similarly reduced, and J Jayalalitha, who was Tamil Nadu’s chief minister at the time, advocated their release.
On May 21, 1991, a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization attacked Rajiv Gandhi at a public gathering in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. It was perceived as payback for his dispatching Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987 only to pull them out after losing more than 1,200 soldiers in combat.
News Mania Desk
