SC orders release of six Rajiv killers serving life terms

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday freed six convicts who have spent more than three decades in jail for their involvement in the assassination of former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. The order mirrored the reasoning adopted by the top court nearly six months ago when it set free the seventh convict, AG Perarivalan, on the grounds of poor health and good conduct.

A bench of justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna said that the criteria adopted for the release of Perarivalan equally applied to the remaining six convicts, including the sole woman in the group, S Nalini, who was arrested on June 14, 1991. Besides Nalini, the other convicts are V Sriharan alias Murugan, RP Ravichandran, T Suthenthraraja alias Santhan, Robert Pious, and Jeyakumar.

Passing a short order, the bench said, “We find that factors which weighed with this Court while directing release of Perarivalan are equally applicable to all present applicants.”

The Tamil Nadu government recommended the release of all seven convicts on September 9, 2018. This opinion was held to be binding on the Tamil Nadu governor by the top court in the Perarivalan case and, therefore, applied to other accused. The