Congress Reaction Afrer SC Releases 6 Convicts in Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case

The Congress party on Friday called the Supreme Court’s decision of releasing the remaining six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case “totally unacceptable” and “completely erroneous”. The six convicts include Nalini Sriharan, R P Ravichandran, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar.

Taking to Twitter, the party’s General Secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The Congress party criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable”.

“It is most unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue,” he added.

My statement on the decision of the Supreme Court to free the remaining killers of former PM Shri. Rajiv Gandhi pic.twitter.com/ErwqnDGZLc

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 11, 2022

The bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna, passed the order while taking into consideration the case of A G Perarivalan, another convict who was released in May.

Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by an LTTE suicide bomber at an election meeting in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. Seven convicts were sentenced to life terms in the case.

In 1999, the Supreme Court sentenced four of them to death and the other three to life imprisonment. In 2000, the death sentence of Nalini was commuted to life. In 2014, the Supreme Court commuted the other three death sentences, including that of Perarivalan.

Also Read: Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case: Supreme Court Orders Release of Convicts