Nalini, who was released by the Supreme Court in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was released from jail. Released after 31 years in prison. Husband Murugan alias Sriharan, Sudhindra Raja alias Shanthan, Robert Pius and Jayakumar were also released today. RP Ravichandran will also be released today.
Murugan and Shanthan are Sri Lankan nationals and will be shifted to a special camp in Tiruchirappalli. This camp accommodates foreign nationals who come to Tamil Nadu without documents.
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case accused Nalini Sriharan says she is saddened by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and apologizes to his family. Nalini said this in an interview granted to the national media NDTV. Nalini also said that she sympathized with Rajiv Gandhi and others who were killed in the blast. 'I apologize to them profusely. Sorry about that incident. We spent years thinking about it. They lost their loved ones. Nalini added, "I hope they have recovered from that tragedy." Nalini Sriharan's remarks came hours after she was released from jail after 31 years. After the release, Nalini responded that she now has a new life with her husband and daughter.
The Supreme Court yesterday ordered the release of Nalini and five others who were convicted in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a Sri Lankan group, assassinated Rajiv Gandhi during an election campaign in Sriperumpathur, Tamil Nadu in May 1991. Rajiv Gandhi's assassination was in retaliation for sending Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987.
In 1998, the TADA court sentenced 25 people to death in the case. In May 1999, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. In 2000, Nalini's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment following the intervention of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In 2014, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of six other accused to life imprisonment
The bench had pointed out that the accused had spent 30 years in jail and their behavior in jail was satisfactory. The Tamil Nadu government had also recommended the governor to release them.
Perariwalan, the seventh accused in the case, was acquitted last May by exercising the Supreme Court's prerogative (Article 142 of the Constitution) to ensure complete justice. On November 11, the Supreme Court ordered the release of all the convicts before the expiry of their term, pointing out that the same order is applicable to the rest of the convicts. Apart from Nalini, all the accused namely Sriharan, Shanthan, Robert Pius, Ravichandran and Jayakumar were acquitted. Convicts sentenced to death were often given life sentences. This is what the court granted relief.
