The Indian Supreme Court today ordered the release of six convicts involved in assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The killers have spent more than three decades in prison in the Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
In May this year, a seventh convict, Perarivalan, was freed after the Supreme Court used its extraordinary powers. Tooday, the Indian apex court applied the same order to the other six convicts _ Nalini, Sriharan, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas, and RP Ravichandran.
According to Indian media, the supreme court said that the Tamil Nadu government had requested the court to release the convicts.
In 2018, the Tamil Nadu government recommended to the governor to release the seven criminals who assassinated former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
The seven convicts had a minor role in the killing and they were tricked into participating in a plot they did not know much about.
Every government in the state is attached to the killers’ case. “Whether led by the AIADMK or DMK”, many have campaigned for the freedom of the seven convicts.
Rajiv Gandhi was killed on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. He was assassinated by a female suicide bomber who belonged to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group from Sri Lanka.
After the seven convicts were found associated with the targeted killing, they were sentenced to death.