India: Mercy petitions in Rajiv assassination case dismissed

President Patil

Twenty years after the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, three men responsible for his killing are soon to face the gallows with President Pratibha Patil rejecting their mercy petitions.

The three convicts are Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. While Murugan and Santhan are Sri Lankan nationals, Perarivalan is an Indian.

The wife of Murugan, S. Nalini, was also sentenced to death but it was later commuted to life imprisonment at the intervention of Congress president and Rajiv Gandhi's wife, Sonia Gandhi. Nalini is serving her sentence in a prison in Tamil Nadu.

Rashtrapathi Bhavan sources told The Hindu that the mercy petitions, pending for about six years, were rejected by the President last week, paving the way for their execution.

The Union Home Ministry had sent its opinion on June 21, 2005, which was called back for review on February 23, 2011 and was re-submitted to the President on March 8 this year.

It was on May 21, 1991 that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used a woman suicide bomber Dhanu to blow up Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Dhanu died in the blast.

41 chargesheeted

A total of 41 people were chargesheeted by SIT for Rajiv Gandhi's killing. Of these, three — LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran, his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and LTTE women's wing leader Akhila — were declared proclaimed offenders and they died later. Twelve others, including 11 Sri Lankans, committed suicide. The trial was conducted against the remaining 26 Indians and Sri Lankans.

Two accused, Ravichandran and Robert Pyas, were also sentenced to life imprisonment but subsequently spared the charges of murder conspiracy. The years they spent in jail were deemed punishment for the other offences they were charged with. The trial court in Chennai awarded death penalty to all the 26 accused in January 1998. In its May 1999 verdict, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence on four and acquitted 19 and released the other three. The review petitions of the four —Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan and Nalini — were rejected in October 1999.

A three-judge Bench comprising Justices K.T. Thomas, D.P. Wadhwa and Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri dismissed the review petitions, by a two-one majority. Justice Thomas, who gave the dissenting judgment, said Nalini's review petition “should be allowed and her sentence should be altered to imprisonment for life.”

Subsequently, the four sought mercy from the President.

Source: The Hindu, August 12, 2011