Rajiv Gandhi murder convicts plead for mercy killing

Convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case, Nalini Sriharan and her husband V. Sriharan alias Murugan have demanded mercy killing.

Nalini, lodged in Special Prison for Women in Vellore, is one of the seven convicts in the case. She has sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madras High Court's Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi demanding mercy killing, jail sources said.

Earlier this year, she had filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking direction to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit to release all the seven convicts as per the decision of the Tamil Nadu government cabinet in 2018, recommending their release under Article 161 of the Constitution.

However, the High Court dismissed her petition as it couldn't order the Governor to take action.

The seven convicts are A.G. Perarivalan, V. Sriharan alias Murugan, T. Suthendraraja alais Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini Sriharan, wife of V. Sriharan. They include both Indians and Sri Lankans.

All the convicts have been in prison since 1991, the year a woman LTTE suicide bomber blew up herself, killing Rajiv Gandhi on the spot at an election rally near Chennai.