Rajiv Gandhi killers Nalini along with 4 others walk out from Tamil Nadu prison

Rajiv Gandhi killers Nalini along with 4 others walk out from Tamil Nadu prison

Immediately after she was released from the special prison for women in Vellore, Nalini went to the Vellore central prison from where her husband V Sriharan alias Murugan was released.

N ChithraUpdated: Saturday, November 12, 2022, 11:41 PM IST
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Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: Nalini Sriharan along with four other convicts walk out from TN prisons | ANI

Chennai: A day after the Supreme Court ordered the release of the six remaining life convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Tamil Nadu Prison authorities released them.

Smiles turned to tears for the main accused in the case, Nalini Sriharan, as her husband, Sriharan alias Murugan, a Sri Lankan national, was transferred from Vellore Central Prison to a Special Refugee Camp in Tiruchi.

Three other fellow Sri Lankan national convicts, Robert Payas, Jayakumar, and Santhan, were also taken to the same camp.

Nalini, out on extended parole since December last year, had earlier in the day completed the formalities of "surrender" at the Katpadi Police Station and thereupon been taken to the Vellore Prison, where she had stayed for a significant period of her incarnation since June 1991.

She walks with a glowing smile on her face.

Shortly thereafter, she walked out of the prison gates with a glowing smile on her face. She was accompanied by an acquaintance, a youth in a raincoat, and was mobbed by journalists and print and television camerapersons.

Moments later, as she saw her husband and another convict, Santhan, being driven in a police van to the Tiruchi Special Camp, she broke down. In tears, she held his hands and momentarily sprinted before others held her back.

None of the four Sri Lankan convicts in the case had entered India with valid documents, including a passport. They had all come by illegal ferry service, either as refugees or clandestinely, before becoming co-conspirators in the assassination of the former Prime Minister. Therefore, moves are afoot to deport them to Sri Lanka in coordination with the island nation’s embassy.

Robert and Jayakumar were taken to the camp.

Robert Payas and Jayakumar, who were lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, were also released and taken to the camp by road.

Meanwhile, late in the evening, Ravichandran, who too is on extended parole and has a good conduct certificate in prison, completed his release formalities at the Madurai Central Prison. Being an Indian citizen, he can breathe freely.

In May, the Supreme Court set another convict, Perarivalan, free.

Meanwhile, some politicians called for the Tamil Nadu government’s intervention to allow the four Sri Lankan nationals to be set at liberty. They argued that lodging them in the Special Camp would be tantamount to imprisoning them despite their being released from prison.

Given that the issue is a tricky one where the state government cannot take an independent decision and needs the approval of the centre to deal with the foreign nationals, it remains to be seen how this pans out.

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