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TN government decides to recommend release of Gandhi killers
09 Sep, 2018
The?Tamil Nadu?government on Sunday decided to recommend to?Governor?Banwarilal Purohit?the release of seven convicts serving life term for the assassination of former?Prime Minister?Rajiv?Gandhi,?Fisheries Minister?D. Jayakumar?said, according to the IANS news service.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by?Chief Minister?K. Palaniswami.
Jayakumar told reporters that the decision was taken after the?Supreme Court?asked Purohit to consider the mercy petition of A.G. Perarivalan, serving life term for the 1991 assassination of Gandhi, for release under Article 161 of the Constitution.
Jayakumar said though the apex court had given its order in the petition filed by Perarivalan, the?state government?had decided to recommend to the?Governor?his release as well as six other convicts as they had also sent their mercy petitions.
The other six are V. Sriharan alais Murugan, T. Suthendraraja alais Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini Sriharan, wife of Sriharan alias Murugan. They include both Indians and Sri Lankans.
All seven have been in prison since 1991, the year a woman Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew up?Rajiv?Gandhi at an election rally near Chennai.
Jayakumar said the?Supreme Court?was the highest court and the cabinet decision was taken based on the basis of its decision.
He said the?Governor?had to agree with the cabinet decision.
The?Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam?(LTTE) was blamed for the assassination of Gandhi. The?Sri Lankan military?crushed the?Tamil Tigers?in 2009. (Colombo Gazette)
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