Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: SC to hear plea filed by seven convicts seeking release

The Supreme Court on 16 August announced that it will hear the plea filed by seven convicts seeking release, in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case tomorrow.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, will hear the case.

There are seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, namely, Perarivalan, Murugan, Shantan, Robert Pais, Nalini, Jayakunar and Ravichandran.

Nalini Sriharan has been lodged in a special prison for women in Tamil Nadu's Vellore.

Nalini was initially awarded death sentence which was later converted to life imprisonment by the State Government.

Besides her, four others, including her husband Murugan (Sriharan), were sentenced to death and three others to life term by the Supreme Court for their role in the assassination of the former prime minister on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur by an LTTE suicide bomber.

The death sentence of the other three was commuted by the apex court later citing inordinate delay in disposing of their mercy petitions. 

-ANI