Rajiv case: "Confident TN Governor won't release convicts"

The relative of a victim and a survivor of the 1991 suicide bomber attack which killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi Thursday said they are confident Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit will not release the seven life convicts in the assassination case.

However, parties, including the DMK, and relatives of the convicts demanded their immediate release.

The Congress in Tamil Nadu said there should be no pressure on the Governor over the issue.

Hours after the Supreme Court dismissed their plea objecting to the State government's 2014 decision recommending release of the seven convicts,they exuded confidence that justice will be done.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, "All aspects were covered in the earlier constitution bench verdict in the case and therefore nothing survives in the case."
Last year when she visited Purohit seeking the release of convicts, Arputhammal said: "Governor told me that he will do it (release the convicts)...I have waited for eight months, and now after this judgment there is a conducive ambience for their release."
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K S Alagiri said there were so many Tamils in prisons for over 25 years and "all of them can be released including these seven convicts...we do not have a different opinion."