Rajiv Gandhi case: Convict in SC seeks recall of its conviction order

Representational PicThe Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the CBI to respond to a plea filed by a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case seeking recall of the apex courts May 1999 order upholding his conviction on the ground that he was not aware of the conspiracy A bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi asked the probe agency to file its response to the application filed by convict A G Perarivalan within three weeks and posted the matter for hearing on February 21 Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber identified as Dhanu at an election rallyFourteen others including Dhanu herself were also killed Perarivalan had earlier told the court that he was held guilty of supplying two ninevolt batteries which were allegedly used in the improvised explosive device IED that killed Gandhi In his application Perarivalan referred to an affidavit filed by V Thiagarajan then superintendent of police of CBI who had recorded his confessional statement under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention ActThe application said the former CBI officer had in his affidavit stated that Perarivalan in his confessional statement had expressly stated that at the time of the purchase of batteries he had absolutely no idea for what purpose these were going to be used In its May 1999 order the apex court had upheld the death sentence of four convicts Perarivalan Murugan Santham and Nalini in the former Prime Ministers assassination caseHowever in April 2000 the Tamil Nadu governor commuted the death sentence of Nalini on the basis of the state governments recommendation and an appeal by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi On February 18 2014 the top court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment along that of two other condemned prisoners Santhan and Murugan on grounds of a delay of 11 years in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre Gandhis assassination was perhaps the first case of suicide bombing which had claimed the life of a highprofile global leaderDuring the hearing today advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan representing Perarivalan told the court that he has filed the application seeking recall of the 1999 judgement by the top court and the CBI should respond to it In his application Perarivalan has said that he is languishing in jail for the past 26 years It said the facts in CBI SP Thiagarajans affidavit as it stands today will in any case go to the root of the matter and will remove the very basis of the conviction of the applicant in the conviction judgement the applicant seeks for appropriate direction in this regardIt further claimed that the affidavit by the officer will completely wipe out the guilt of Perarivalan and his purported knowledge about the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the former Prime Minister Yesterday the apex court had asked the Centre to take a decision within three months on a 2016 letter by Tamil Nadu government seeking its concurrence on releasing seven convicts in the assassination caseThe letter written on March 2 2016 had said that while the state government has already decided to release the seven convicts it is necessary to seek the Centres concurrence as per an apex court order of 2015 While hearing Perarivalans plea earlier the top court had observed that the probe by CBIs Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency MDMA in the larger conspiracy aspect behind Gandhis assassination does not appear to have achieved much headway and could be endless MDMA set up in 1998 at the recommendations of Justice M C Jain Commission of Inquiry which had probed the conspiracy aspect of Gandhis assassination is headed by a CBI official and comprises officers from IB RAW and Revenue Intelligence and other agenciesThe contentreporting displayed on our websitewwwmiddaycomis provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE by us from third party agencies sources without any verification from our side It may contain error bugs and other limitations The readers can rely on the content at their own will Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability data text images video messages or any other material whatsoever or for any claimslossaction that the reader may suffer as a result of relying on the content on our site Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeverCatch up on all the latest Mumbai National and International news hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go