Skip to main content

India - Rajiv Gandhi assassination: 3 to hang Sep 9

Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan
The 3 men facing death penalty for the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi will be hanged Sep 9 in Tamil Nadu's Vellore prison, a jail official said Friday.

Prison Superintendent R. Arivudainambi Friday afternoon received the official communication to carry out the execution of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.

“We have informed the convicts about the date of hanging. The execution will be (carried out) Sep 9 early morning,” Arivudainambi told IANS.

He said the movement of the convicts inside the prison will be restricted from now on.

“If they want any books from the library, they will be provided inside their cells but they won't be allowed to visit the library,” he said.

Family members will still be allowed to meet them, he added.

On Aug 11, President Pratibha Patil rejected the mercy petition of the three men who were linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ordered Gandhi's killing.

A woman suicide bomber blew up Gandhi, who was prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai May 21, 1991.

In 1998, all 26 accused in the case - including the 3 - were sentenced to die by a special trial court.

In 1999, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of 4: Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan and Nalini, an Indian woman who had assisted the killer squad.

The capital punishment of the others was reduced to varying terms of imprisonment.

The death sentence of Nalini, who married Murugan and became a mother in prison, was commuted to life imprisonment after her mercy petition was accepted.

The petition had the recommendation of Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's widow.

Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan and the others were charged with criminal conspiracy that led to Gandhi's killing. They then petitioned the Indian president.

Meanwhile, more and more people in Tamil Nadu are demanding that the three should not be hanged.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss urged Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa to save the 3 from the gallows.

MDMK general secretary Vaiko has made a similar appeal to Jayalalithaa.

On Friday, Puthiya Tamizhagam leader K. Krishnasamy walked out of the state assembly after the speaker did not allow him to raise the issue.

Source: New Kerala, August 27, 2011


Karunanidhi appeals to Sonia to intervene

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi today appealed to the Congress led UPA government at the Centre and its Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to intervene and prevent the hanging of 3 convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case on September 9.

Reiterating that the DMK was against death penalty, Mr Karunanidhi, whose DMK is a key constituent of the UPA government at the centre, said as only a few days were left for the execution of the death penalty, both the Centre and state governments should act fast and save the lives.

''The Congress, which is leading the coalition government at the Centre and its President Ms Gandhi should show interest in the case and come forward to save 3 lives,'' the DMK leader said in a statement here.

The Tamil Nadu government should also take all steps to cancel the death sentence of the three convicts Sriharan alias Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, he said.

Source: New Kerala, August 27, 2011

Related articles:
Aug 12, 2011
Tags : India, Sri Lanka, Terrorism. Location Inde. 1 commentaires: naan said... Kindly read this below URL and give your thoughts, whether Perarivalan did or not. Hope you can understand more after you read this. ...
Aug 18, 2011
Earlier this week, President Pratibha Patil dismissed the clemency pleas of Murugan, Santhan, and Perarivalan, on death row for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The Home Ministry has advised President Patil to dismiss ...

Comments

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement.  “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester.  Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again.  Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams.  Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium. 

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness  Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died.  Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.  Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.”  “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.” 

USA | Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?

New drugs and med­ical treat­ments under­go rig­or­ous test­ing to ensure they are safe and effec­tive for pub­lic use. Under fed­er­al and state reg­u­la­tions, this test­ing typ­i­cal­ly involves clin­i­cal tri­als with human sub­jects, who face sig­nif­i­cant health and safe­ty risks as the first peo­ple exposed to exper­i­men­tal treat­ments. That is why the law requires them to be ful­ly informed of the poten­tial effects and give their vol­un­tary con­sent to par­tic­i­pate in trials. Yet these reg­u­la­tions have not been fol­lowed when states seek to use nov­el and untest­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods — sub­ject­ing pris­on­ers to poten­tial­ly tor­tur­ous and uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly painful deaths. Some experts and advo­cates argue that states must be bound by the eth­i­cal and human rights prin­ci­ples of bio­med­ical research before using these meth­ods on prisoners.