The seven Rajiv Gandhi killers jailed in Tamil Nadu cannot be released, the Indian government told the Supreme Court today, asserting that the case involves the assassination of a former Prime Minister.
The CBI, which investigated the case, has opposed the release of the seven convicts, the court was told.
Tamil Nadu had been informed of the decision on April 18, the centre told the court.
The seven convicts have been in jail for 27 years.
The court had asked the centre to decide and respond to Tamil Nadu’s request to release them.
A constitution bench of top Supreme Court judges had said in 2015 that the convicts cannot be released without the central government’s consent.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, around seven years after his mother Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her bodyguards in New Delhi.
Rajiv Gandhi died after a suicide bomber approached him at a political rally in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur. Investigations later revealed that the Sri Lanka-based militant organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was behind the assassination.
Source: NDTV
-Agencies
