‘Rajiv Gandhi killing was wrong, but my dad is innocent’
September 3, 2011 10:45 am
Harithra Murugan is happy her father Murugan’s execution for plotting former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination has been stayed for eight weeks by Madras high court. But she believes her father is innocent. “India is a great country. It should not allow the hanging of an innocent man,” she told TOI.
Sri Lankan Tamils Murugan and Santhan along with Perarivalan, an Indian Tamil, were sentenced to death for plotting the 1991 assassination. On August 11, President Pratibha Patil rejected the mercy petitions of the three men linked to LTTE. The date of hanging was fixed for September 9. But, the Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a resolution requesting President Patil to reconsider their mercy pleas. “I am very happy. I would like to thank everyone who fought for them (her father, Santhan and Perarivalan),” 19-year-old Harithra told the BBC Tamil service.
Harithra condemned Gandhi’s assasination on Thursday. Speaking to TOI, she said, “The killing of Rajiv Gandhi was terribly wrong.”
Harithra’s parents, Nalini and Murugan, were arrested soon after the assassination.
A second year bio-medicine student at Scotland’s Glasgow University, she has met her parents only once since 2005.
Haritha said her mother was one-month pregnant at the time of the assasination. In a letter to Sonia dated August 27, Harithra wrote, “Sonia Gandhi who was instrumental in saving the life of my mother Nalini Murugan by commuting her death sentence to life time imprisonment has clearly mentioned with kindness that neither she nor her children would like the convict or their families to go over the mental agony that her family had gone through by losing dear ones. Ms Priyanka Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi would know the pain of growing up without a father.”
Sri Lankan Tamils Murugan and Santhan along with Perarivalan, an Indian Tamil, were sentenced to death for plotting the 1991 assassination. On August 11, President Pratibha Patil rejected the mercy petitions of the three men linked to LTTE. The date of hanging was fixed for September 9. But, the Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a resolution requesting President Patil to reconsider their mercy pleas. “I am very happy. I would like to thank everyone who fought for them (her father, Santhan and Perarivalan),” 19-year-old Harithra told the BBC Tamil service.
Harithra condemned Gandhi’s assasination on Thursday. Speaking to TOI, she said, “The killing of Rajiv Gandhi was terribly wrong.”
Harithra’s parents, Nalini and Murugan, were arrested soon after the assassination.
A second year bio-medicine student at Scotland’s Glasgow University, she has met her parents only once since 2005.
Haritha said her mother was one-month pregnant at the time of the assasination. In a letter to Sonia dated August 27, Harithra wrote, “Sonia Gandhi who was instrumental in saving the life of my mother Nalini Murugan by commuting her death sentence to life time imprisonment has clearly mentioned with kindness that neither she nor her children would like the convict or their families to go over the mental agony that her family had gone through by losing dear ones. Ms Priyanka Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi would know the pain of growing up without a father.”
