Rajiv Gandhi assassination: DMK seeks release of convicts

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Saturday urged the state government to hold a cabinet meeting immediately to pass a resolution and recommend the state's governor to immediately release all those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

A resolution in this regard was first passed in an internal meeting of the DMK earlier in the day. The meeting was attended by the party district secretary, Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly.

This came after the Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to approach the Governor to consider the mercy petition of AG Perarivalan, a convict in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and others.

Following this, sources confirmed to ANI that the Tamil Nadu government has called a state cabinet meeting on September 9 to discuss the same.

Meanwhile, Nalini Sriharan, one among the seven convicts in the case, withdrew her plea seeking six months parole for attending her daughter's marriage.

Nalini is presently serving a life sentence in Vellore women's prison. She was two months pregnant when she was arrested in connection with the case in 1991.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in May 1991.

On August 10, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that it does not concur with the Tamil Nadu government's proposal to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, namely Nalini, Perarivalan, Murugan, Santhan, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran.