Rajiv Gandhi killers to be freed says Jayalalithaa's government

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to release seven people convicted in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, including Nalini Sriharan, in a politically loaded move that is likely to set off a battle for credit ahead of the national election, due by May.Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's cabinet met this morning and decided to free the convicts a day after the Supreme Court left it to the state to grant them remission. The convicts have been in jail for 23 years.Nalini Sriharan, the wife of convict Murugan, was granted mercy in 2000 on the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The top court had yesterday spared Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan from execution, citing the 11-year delay in a decision on their mercy plea. The court rejected the government's view that the convicts did not deserve mercy as they had shown no remorse and there was "no agony, torture or dehumanizing effect due to the delay."

The assassination case has been an emotive theme in the state's politics for years, given the largely pro-Lankan Tamil sentiment. All parties have openly demanded the release of these convicts, and even Congress politicians in the state have not opposed it.



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