Rajiv Gandhi assassination: Murugan petition sent to CJ to decide about hearing

CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court directed the registry to place the petition filed by Murugan, a former convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case before Chief Justice to decide whether the matter has to be heard by a single judge or division bench.

Sriharan alias Murugan moved the Madras High Court (MHC) seeking to direct the Union and State governments to permit him to go to Srilankan deputy high commission office at Chennai with proper escort for getting an all-country passport and permit him to leave the county at his own cost.

The petition was listed before a division bench comprising Justice M Sundar and Justice R Sakthivel.

According to the petitioner that after his release from jail serving 32 years, now at the age of about 52, lodged at a special camp for Srilankan Tamils (Foreigners Detention Centre), central jail campus, Trichy. The restriction, conditions, and atmosphere in this detention camp are more severe than in the high-security prisons, said the petitioner.

He continued, that for the past 32 years my wife, my daughter, and myself stand separated, the pain and suffering we have gone through is unexplainable. Now I want to live peacefully with my daughter in the United Kingdom (UK). Since the petitioner is a Sri Lankan citizen he wants to direct the Union and State government to permit him to go to Sri Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai and permit him to travel UK.

However, the petition was transferred from a single judge to the division bench, Justice Sundar who led the division bench directed the registry to place the matter before Chief Justice to get consent on whether the matter should be listed before the single judge or the division bench.