Aarush
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2014
- Messages
- 1,174
- Reaction score
- -1
- Country
- Location
The government in India's Tamil Nadu state has decided to free seven people convicted of plotting the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi.
The announcement came a day after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of three convicts, citing delays in deciding their mercy pleas.
All seven were members of the Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebel group.
Gandhi's murder in May 1991 was seen as retaliation for his having sent Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987.
Among the prisoners to be released are the three men pardoned by the Supreme Court - Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan - who have been in jail for more than 20 years and were on death row since 1998.
Nalini Sriharan, an Indian Tamil woman, was also given the death penalty by the trial court in 1998, but the Supreme Court had commuted the capital punishment to life imprisonment for her.
Three other convicts - Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran - who are serving life sentences in jail for involvement in the assassination will also be among those freed, authorities said.
BBC News - Rajiv Gandhi murder: Tamil Nadu to free plotters
Seven Rajiv Gandhi killers, including Nalini Sriharan, to be freed, decides Tamil Nadu government | NDTV.com
The announcement came a day after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of three convicts, citing delays in deciding their mercy pleas.
All seven were members of the Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebel group.
Gandhi's murder in May 1991 was seen as retaliation for his having sent Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987.
Among the prisoners to be released are the three men pardoned by the Supreme Court - Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan - who have been in jail for more than 20 years and were on death row since 1998.
Nalini Sriharan, an Indian Tamil woman, was also given the death penalty by the trial court in 1998, but the Supreme Court had commuted the capital punishment to life imprisonment for her.
Three other convicts - Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran - who are serving life sentences in jail for involvement in the assassination will also be among those freed, authorities said.
BBC News - Rajiv Gandhi murder: Tamil Nadu to free plotters
Seven Rajiv Gandhi killers, including Nalini Sriharan, to be freed, decides Tamil Nadu government | NDTV.com
