Congress to challenge SC's order to release convicts of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday said that it will challenge Supreme Court's order to release convicts in former PM Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The petition challenging the grounds set out in the order will be filed this week, they said.

The Centre has already filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the release of the convicts.

On November 11, the Supreme Court had ordered premature release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan, who had hosted the assassin, noting the Tamil Nadu government had recommended remission of their sentence.

All the six convicts- Nalini, PR Ravichandran, Robert Pias, Suthendraraja, Jaykumar and Sriharan, were set free.

The bench passed the order while taking into consideration the case of A G Perarivalan, another convict in the case. Perarivalan was released in May this year after the apex court invoked its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution.

Rajiv Gandhi's assassination

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group during a public rally.

The seven convicts were sentenced to death for their role in the killing. They included Nalini Sriharan, RP Ravichandran, Jayakumar, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas, and AG Perarivalan.

In the year 2000, Nalini Sriharan's sentence was reduced to a life term. Later in the year 2014, the sentence of the other six convicts was also reduced, and during the same year, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalitha recommended the release of all the seven convicts in the case.