May 03, 2025 08:39 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Pahalgam fallout: India suspends Pakistan I&B minister Ataullah Tarar's X account | India bans all imports from Pakistan in Pahalgam terror attack fallout | Yunus aide threatens Bangladesh would occupy North East states if India attacks Pakistan | Pahalgam aftermath: Pakistan test-fires ballistic missile with 450-km range amid escalation in tension with India | 'Your govt stands at a historic crossroads': Tejashwi Yadav to PM Modi on caste census move | Pahalgam attack: Supreme Court stays deportation of PoK-born man, his family with Indian passports | Cops charge OTT show's host Ajaz Khan, producer Rajkymar Pandey over 'sex positions' viral clip | 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes off coast of Chile and Argentina, tsunami warning issued | PM Modi inaugurates Vizhinjam International Seaport in Kerala worth Rs. 8,800 crore | 'Many will get their sleep disturbed': Modi's veiled jibe at Congress over Shashi Tharoor, Pinarayi Vijayan's presence at Kerala event

Rajiv killers: SC to give verdict on Centre's plea

| | Apr 25, 2014, at 03:47 pm
New Delhi, Apr 25 (IBNS) The Supreme Court on Friday will deliver its verdict on the Centre's plea against the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to release all seven convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case.

On Apr 2, the Centre had filed a petition challenging the state government's authority in the case.

On Apr 1, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition by the Centre to review its February verdict commuting the death sentence of three killers of Rajiv Gandhi to life.

A bench led by Chief Justice P Sathasivam dismissed the review petition with the apex court saying the three men would not be hanged.

The apex court had commuted the death sentence in February owing to a long delay (about 11 years) in deciding their mercy petitions.

Rajiv Gandhi, the sixth Prime Minister of India, was killed at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others were also killed in the blasts by a suicide bomber - Dhanu- sent by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was a terror outfit fighting for a free land for the ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka.  

The three convicts, Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, had sought the commutation of their death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding their mercy plea.

The bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam had pronounced the verdict and granted them mercy in Feb.

Santhan, Perarivalan and Murugan are in prison for over two decades.

 Murugan's wife Nalini Sriharan's death sentence had been commuted earlier on the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The Centre had  opposed commuting their death sentence to life imprisonment.

Congres vice-president Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv Gandhi, earlier had reacted strongly against the J Jayalalithaa led Tamil Nadu government's decision to release  seven convicts in connection with the killing of  Rajiv Gandhi and said even a prime minister could not get justice in the country.

Gandhi's assassination was carried out by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu, who was found after investigations to be a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber.

 

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.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Close menu