Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: Madras HC grants 30-day parole to convict S. Nalini

Nalini Sridharan, a convict in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, got 30-day parole from Madras High Court (HC) on Friday.

Nalini was brought from Vellore prison to Madras High Court today. She was surrounded by hundreds of police personnel while appearing in the court.

Madras High Court granted ordinary leave to Nalini for a month, it has also directed Tamil Nadu Government to bear the expenses towards escort charges. Nalini is directed to furnish particulars of sureties within a week and State government should verify it within 10 days thereafter. Parole shall begin after verification.

Nalini Came to Madras HC before a bench of Judges led by Justices Sunderesh and Nirmal Kumar to argue her case seeking six months of ordinary leave to make arrangements for the marriage of her daughter residing in London.

In February 2019, Nalini had written a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami appealing to use the then political opportunity to release her and six others, for which she also held a hunger strike in the prison.

In May 2019, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea objecting to the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to release all the seven convicts involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Dismissing the plea, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said: "We don't find any merit in your petition."The plea was filed by the families of those killed along with the former Prime Minister. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK)-led Tamil Nadu government in 2014 decided to release all the convicts.

In May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. The attack also left 14 other people killed.