Tamil Nadu: Police take Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Nalini Sriharan to Katpadi Police Station

A day after the Supreme Court set free all the six convicts serving life terms for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Police took assassin Nalini Sriharan to the Katpadi Police Station in Tamil Nadu's Vellore. Nalini Sriharan has been taken for her routine signature procedure at Katpadi Police Station on Saturday.

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Nalini Sriharan is among the seven persons accused of assassinating Rajiv Gandhi. In May this year, one of the seven convicts, AG Perarivalan was released after he spent 31 years in jail.

Nalini and five other persons were serving life sentence terms in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. They were set free by the Supreme Court on Friday on the grounds of having good conduct in jail.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group during a public rally. The seven convicts were sentenced to death for their role in the killing. Their names included Nalini Sriharan, RP Ravichandran, Jayakumar, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas, and AG Perarivalan.In the year 2000, Nalini Sriharan's sentence was reduced to a life term. Later in the year 2014, the sentence of the other six convicts was also reduced, and during the same year, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalitha recommended the release of all the seven convicts in the case.

The top court further said, "Nalini has been behind bars for over three decades and her conduct has also been satisfactory. She has a PG diploma in Computer Application. Ravichandran's conduct has also been found to be satisfactory and he has undertaken various studies during his incarceration including a PG diploma in Arts. He has also collected various amounts for charity." The top court released Nalini, Ravichandran, Robert Payas, Jayakumar, S Raja, and Shriharan.

On May 18, the Supreme Court had evoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to release AG Perarivalan, who was one of the seven convicts in the assassination case.

Nalini and Ravichandran had approached the apex court seeking release from prison-like fellow convict AG Perarivalan. The Tamil Nadu government had earlier recommended the pre-mature release of convicts saying that its 2018 aid and advice for the remission of their life sentence is binding upon the Governor.

It had considered mercy petitions of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and resolved to recommend the Governor for the remission of their life sentences invoking the power granted under Article 161 of the Constitution.Nalini and Ravichandran had earlier knocked on the door of the Madras High Court seeking the same relief, however, the High Court had refused to entertain the petition.

The Madras High Court while turning down the petition had stated that it did not have special powers that the Supreme Court has under Article 142 of the Constitution and hence, it cannot order their release, like the Supreme Court did for Perarivalan in May 2022.The High Court had said they could approach the Supreme Court if their plea was based on Perarivalan's release.

Following Perarivalan's release, Ravichandran had sent a letter to Chief Minister MK Stalin seeking the release of the remaining six convicts, including him and mentioned that the Governor has kept the files of release without consideration for over three years which he condemns as an anti-constitutional approach.

Deciding Perarivalan's plea for premature release from jail based on the recommendation made by the Tamil Nadu government in September 2018, the apex court ordered his release, while the six other convicts remain in jail.