TN cabinet recommends release of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts

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The Tamil Nadu cabinet on Sunday recommended the release of all the seven convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

AIADMK leader D. Jayakumar said that the decision for the recommendation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit was made in a cabinet meeting led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

The decision comes days after the Supreme Court asked the Tamil Nadu government to seek redressal and direction from the Governor for its demand to release the convicts in the case.

The apex court had also directed the state government to approach the Governor to consider the mercy petition of one of the convicts, A G Perarivalan.

All the seven convicts - Nalini, Perarivalan, Murugan, Santhan, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran are serving life terms and had been in jail for the last 27 years.

In May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber, during an election rally in Sriperumbudur.

Besides this, the state cabinet also recommended renaming of the Chennai Central station after former Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran.

"Tamil Nadu recommends re-naming of Chennai Central railway station as M. G. Ramachandran Central railway station," Jayakumar said addressing the media after the meeting.

The state government also urged the Centre to accord 'Bharat Ratna' to former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.