Rajiv case convict Perarivalan granted a month leave

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan was on Thursday granted ordinary leave for a month to take care of his ailing father, a top Tamil Nadu Prison official said.

Perarivalan, alias Arivu, who is in prison since 1991 and serving life imprisonment at the Vellore Central Prison will be released after compliance with norms for leave.

"Perarivalan is granted parole (ordinary leave) for a month to enable him to attend to his ailing father," a top State prison official told PTI.

The leave is granted by the prison department in accordance with the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982 following a plea from the convict citing the health status of his 76-year old father Gnanasekaran.

"The 30-day leave will be reckoned from the day he leaves the prison," the official said.

Perarivalan will be released from jail after a bond was furnished affirming compliance with rules including keeping peace, he added.

In 2017 August, Perarivalan got a similar leave, his first since 1991 in connection with the medical treatment to his father.