The Supreme Court has given a big verdict on the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case on Friday. The court has ordered the release of all the 6 convicts. These include Nalini and RP Ravichandran. All of them are serving life imprisonment.
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| Convicted Nalini was granted a month's parole in December 2021 to take care of her mother Padmavati. - file photo |
On May 18, the Supreme Court had ordered the release of the
convict Perarivalan in this case. The rest of the convicts had also demanded
release from the court citing the same order. Both Nalini and Ravichandran have
spent more than 30 years in jail.
Sonia forgave guilty Nalini
When Nalini was arrested for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination,
she was pregnant. It had been two months since her pregnancy. Then Sonia Gandhi
forgave Nalini. He had said that how can an innocent child be punished for the
mistake of Nalini, who has not yet come into the world.
Even before
this, efforts were made to release the culprits.
In the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the trial court had awarded death sentence to 26 convicts involved in the conspiracy. In May 1999, the Supreme Court acquitted 19 people. Four of the remaining seven accused (Nalini, Murugan alias Sriharan, Santhan and Perarivalan) were sentenced to death and the rest (Ravichandran, Robert Payas and Jayakumar) were given life imprisonment. On the mercy petition of the four, the Tamil Nadu Governor commuted Nalini's death sentence to life imprisonment. The mercy petition of the rest of the accused was rejected by the President in 2011.
Rajiv
Gandhi was assassinated in an election rally
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 by an LTTE suicide bomber named Dhanu during an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. LTTE woman terrorist Dhanu (Tenmoji Rajaratnam) after wearing a flower necklace on Rajiv touched his feet and bent down and detonated explosives tied on the waist. The explosion was so strong that many people were blown to pieces. 16 people including Rajiv and attacker Dhanu died on the spot, while 45 people were seriously injured.
LTTE was annoyed by sending peacekeeping forces to Sri Lanka
Rajiv had sent peacekeeping forces to Sri Lanka during his
tenure, due to which the Tamil rebel organization LTTE (Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam) was angry with him. In 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi went to Sriperumbudur
near Chennai to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, the LTTE carried out a
suicide attack on Rajiv there.
Rajiv
Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of the country
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, Rajiv
Gandhi became the Prime Minister. The Congress had managed to win three-fourths
of the seats in the Lok Sabha elections. At that time Congress won 414 seats
out of 533. When Rajiv became the Prime Minister, he was only 40 years old. He
was the youngest Prime Minister of the country. During his tenure, he made a
comprehensive plan to install computers in schools. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas
were established during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi. Telephone reached from
village to village through PCO.
During this, allegations of corruption were also leveled
against him. The Rajiv government was criticized for the Sikh riots, Bhopal gas
incident, Shah Bano case, Bofors scandal, black money and Sri Lanka policy. So
the Congress was defeated in the election and VP Singh's government was formed.
This government fell in 1990 and Chandrashekhar's government was formed with
the support of Congress. This government also fell in 1991 and elections were
announced. Rajiv had gone to Tamil Nadu to campaign for these elections. Where
he was murdered?
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The Central Government has dissolved the Special
Investigation Agency set up to investigate the assassination of former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi. This Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) was
formed to investigate any major conspiracy behind the assassination of Rajiv
Gandhi. It was created in 1998 on the recommendation of the Jain Commission.