HC orders release of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Perarivalan

Supreme Court convicts A.G. in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case Perarivalan, who has been in jail for over 30 years under a life sentence.

The bench said, “The state cabinet took its decision on the basis of relevant deliberations. Using Article 142, it would be appropriate to release the guilty.”

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassin A. Yes. Perarivalan was granted bail by the court on March 9 after observing that no complaint was received regarding his conduct while serving sentence and parole.

The top court was hearing 47-year-old Perarivalan’s plea seeking suspension of his life sentence till the completion of the investigation by the ‘Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency’ (MDMA).

Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a female suicide bomber who detonated herself during an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. The woman was identified as Dhanu.

The court in its May 1999 order had upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts, Perarivalan, Murugan, Santhan and Nalini.

On February 18, 2014, the apex court commuted the death sentences of Perarivalan, Santhan and Murugan to life imprisonment. The court had decided to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment on the basis of the delay of 11 years in disposal of their mercy petitions by the central government.