I had no idea about the blast, claims Nalini

CHENNAI: One of the seven Rajiv case convicts, Nalini, who was freed from the conviction, after the Supreme Court ordered the release on Sunday said that she was not aware that the former Prime Minister will be murdered.

"I had no idea about the blast. I was two months pregnant. How will a pregnant woman accept the plan for a blast and will remain silent. I was not even present at the spot. I was near the Indira Gandhi statue (in Sriperumbudur) at the time of explosion,” said Nalini, while addressing the media, in Chennai.

Nalini along with five others, including her husband Sriharan , better known as Murugan, were released on Saturday based on an order from Supreme Court in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, as the 'conviction deemed to be completed'. Though Nalini was served the release order and was set free Sriharan, being a Lankan citizen, was put in the special camp in Tiruchy special camp for foreign national with crime background.

"I urge the State government to free my husband from the Tiruchy special camp. We have also asked the Supreme Court to let us free. Then, we have planned to visit the UK to see our daughter. I have to take care of my family which has been shattered while I was in prison,” said Nalini.

When asked about the process involved for Murugan in visiting the UK since he is from Sri Lanka, Nalini replied that she had planned to visit Murugan on Monday and will approach the Sri Lankan authorities to learn the procedures involved in getting visa to visit the UK.

When asked what was the charge on her in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, she replied that the only charge was that she was present at the spot. "Anusuya, then SI, who had not seen me before gave false testimony that she saw me on the spot but what happened actually was that one of her colleagues who was present next to Anusuya in the court showed fingers pointing to her and with the help Anusuya pointed out at me. We raised the issue before the Judge but the Judge did not accept our argument,” said Nalini.

Nalini's advocate Ananda Selvan said that the judgement is a lesson to all the Governors who are acting against the recommendations of the state governments. "The Governor is a formal executive authority and has no powers to act against the recommendations of an elected government. As the Governor did not use powers under Article 162 of Indian Constitution, the Supreme Court had to use Article 142 to acquit them,” said the advocate.

Earlier, Nalini thanked former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for moving the resolution to free them and also thanked Chief Minister MK Stalin for letting them out on parole which helped her a great deal in finishing the case at the earliest.

What did Nalini study in prison?

Apart from completing MCA in the prison, Nalini also learnt tailoring, painting, saree designing, book binding, handwork, food and nutrition and business skills. "Authorities from IGNOU visited the prison and insisted me getting educated. I studied well and even scored 198 (out of 200) in a paper,” said Nalini, smilingly.