Rajiv Gandhi Assassins 6 Rajiv Gandhi assassins including Nalini Sriharan released from Tamil Nadu jails
Vellore (Tamil Nadu): The six remaining life-term convicts of the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Nalini Sriharan, her husband Murugan, Santhan, Robert Payas, RP Ravichandran and Jayakumar were formally released from Tamil Nadu jails on Saturday evening after spending 31 years in prison, media reports said.
Their release came after AG Perarivalan, the seventh convict, was freed by Supreme Court in May, using its extraordinary powers.
The same order applied to the rest of the convicts, the court said.
The court also stated that since the Tamil Nadu cabinet had recommended to the Governor in 2018 that the convicts be freed, and the Governor was bound by it.
According to an NDTV report, Nalini, who was already on parole, went to the local police station to make her compulsory attendance. Thereafter, she went to the special prison for women in Vellore and completed the necessary formalities for her release.
She then went to central prison from where her husband V Sriharan, alias Murugan, and Santhan were released, the report added.
Robert Payas and Jayakumar were released from Puzhal prison.
Murugan, Santhan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar are Sri Lankan nationals.
After their release, all four were taken to a refugee camp in Tiruchirappalli.
Perarivalan, and his mother Arputhammal, two other convicts set free in May, received them at the refugee camp, the report said.
Nalini would decide if she would go to London to live with her daughter, her lawyer said.
Further, the Tamil Nadu government would decide on the deportation of her husband Murugan, who is a Sri Lankan national.
Also, Santhan had already expressed his intention to return to Sri Lanka, he added.
The Congress party strongly opposed the release of the convicts of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins while maintaining that they did not agree with the views of Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi.
While ordering the release, the Supreme Court noted that the convicts had shown satisfactory behaviour, acquired degrees, written books, and had also participated in social service, stated the report.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
