Tamil Nadu government asked to consider parole plea of Rajiv Gandhi's assassin

Madurai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to "consider as per law" the parole plea of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Ravichandran, serving life term in Madurai Central Jail.

A bench of justices S S Sundresh and N Sathish Kumar gave the direction to the state home secretary on a plea by Ravichandran's mother Rajeshwari.

Ravichandran, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has sought a month's parole for settling the family property matters.

The Madurai bench of the high court also asked the Central Jail superintendent to respond to the convict's plea for parole within three weeks and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.

The petitioner submitted that her son has been lodged in the prison for the past 26 years and his conduct had been good.

He continued to be in prison though his sentence period was over and had also been released on ordinary parole thrice during the sentence period, she said.

She further submitted that she was under the presumption that he would be let off after serving 20 years in prison and had postponed the settlement of family property.

Though the Tamil Nadu assembly has passed a resolution for release of the seven convicts in the assassination case and the same had been sent to the Centre, no action had been taken, the petitioner said.

Ravichandran, who had come out on parole in 2012, was eligible for parole after 2014, she claimed.

The petitioner also said she was 62-year-old and her failing health did not allow her to personally manage the properties.

Hence, she prayed for the release of her son on parole for one month to settle property matters of the family.

In 2014, late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had announced that her government would release V Sriharan alias Murugan, A G Perarivalan alias Arivu, Santhan, Nalini, Robert Payas, Jayakumar and Ravichandran.

The matter, however, went to the Supreme Court and is pending there, with the Central government questioning the state's powers to grant remission to them on specific grounds.