In a historic verdict, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of the six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. With this, the long pending legal battle of the Rajiv convicts comes to an end.
Being released, the foreign nationals convicted in the case are contemplating ways to return to their families in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
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The six convicts, Naili Sriharan, Murugan, Santhan, R.P. Ravichandran, Robert Payas and Jayakumar were released on Friday. A.G. Perarivalan, one of the convicts in the case was released in May this year. The Apex Court, in its order releasing the six convicts, said they are released based on the criteria laid down for Perarivalan in its May 18 order. In 1999, when 19 others in the case were released, the foreign nationals went to Europe and settled there.
“I thank the successive governments of Tamil Nadu for all the efforts taken. My special thanks to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for passing a resolution in the Assembly for the second time and for his strong legal stand with regard to our case. His legal stand was very helpful for our release. I am happy that I have got freedom after many years,” R.P. Ravichandran told The Week from his village in Thoothukudi district over the phone.
Ravichandran is on parole for the past 13 months. Ravi is living with his mother in the village. “I now will have to get adapted to the changes in the society. Though I am on parole, I haven’t gone out to meet people. The entire society has changed in these 30 years,” he said. Ravi has plans to get into agriculture and live with his mother.
Nalini, who is also in parole for the past 13 months, expressed her happiness. “We thank everyone around us. We are happy,” Pakianathan, Nalini’s brother told The Week. She is spending parole at home near Vellore. “I thank everyone,” her mother Padmavathi told The Week. Nalini may not go to meet her daughter Harithra immediately, given the legal issues. It is said, Murugan might take the help of the state government to go back to Sri Lanka and then leave for London to meet his daughter. But, if the Sri Lankan government denies assent to take him back, Murugan will be lodged in the special camp in Trichy.
“I am still waiting for my brother to come back home,” Mathi Suthakaran, brother of Santhan told The Week from Udupiddy near Valvettithurai in Jaffna. “I am very excited. I thank everyone, who fought for the release of my son. I thank Sengodi who set herself ablaze demanding the release of all the seven convicts,” Santhan’s mother Thillaiambalam Maheshwari told The Week.
Mathi has plans to apply for a visa to come to India to take his brother back home. “We are yet to talk with the lawyers and ascertain the legal issues regarding his return to Jaffna,” tells Mathi. Of all the seven convicts, Santhan is the only prisoner who did not have any visitors in all these three decades, except once, when his younger brother visited him. It is said that Santhan will get into literary activities and revive his publishing house, if he is allowed to get back to Sri Lanka.
Also, Robert Payas will seek legal help to leave India as his family is living in Australia. Jayakumar’s family is living in Chennai. However, being a foreign national, Jayakumar will also have to leave India. With regard to sending back foreign nationals, the Tamil Nadu government, sources say, has to take an administrative decision based on the security aspects. If the Sri Lankan government refuses to take them back, the foreign nationals - Murugan, Santhan and Jayakumar, might be lodged in the special camp in Trichy.
Earlier, on October 18, the central government closed the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) set up 24 years ago to probe into the wider conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. The MDMA was functioning as part of the CBI. It was set up on the recommendations of the M.C. Jain commission to probe into the conspiracy behind the suicide-bomb attack. Though the period of MDMA was originally only two years, it was given annual extensions till May this year.
