Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: Convict's mother pleads for his release

The mother of A G Perarivalan, a convict in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, on Thursday said his son had already lost 27 years of his life in jail and now should be released.

Her remark came after retired justice of the Supreme Court K T Thomas, who headed the three-member bench that sentenced Gandhi's killers, wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi, Congress President and wife of Rajiv Gandhi, to show magnanimity towards the convict.

"Justice Retd Thomas has come out clearly after many years (wrote letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting her to show magnanimity), I don't know law but know there are loopholes, my son already lost 27 years and now should be released," Perarivalan's mother said.

On November 14, the Supreme Court asked whether the Centre is willing to set free Perarivalan.

The Centre has challenged the Tamil Nadu government's decision to release Perarivalan in the assassination of former prime minister who was killed by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.

Perarivalan is on life imprisonment along with Murugan and Santhan, the other two convicts in the same case.

A division bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justices Navin Sinha granted two weeks time to the Centre to reply in this case.

The top court fixed the matter for further hearing on December 6.

Perarivalan was arrested on June 11, 1991 from Periyar Thidal, Chennai by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers.

He was charged with providing a nine-volt battery for the explosive device to assassination conspirator Sivarasan.

His death penalty finally commuted to life term imprisonment after the Supreme Court's verdict on February 18, 2014.

On August 25, for the first time since his arrest in 1991, Perarivalan was granted parole by the Tamil Nadu Government.