Supreme Court commutes death sentence to killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi

The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence of three convicts in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to life in prison.

While commuting death sentence, SC cited 11 years delay on the part of the Centre in deciding their mercy plea.

SC rejected the Centre's contention that delay in deciding mercy plea of convicts Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan did not result in agony. "We implore govt to render advice in reasonable time to the President for taking a decision on mercy pleas. We are confident that the mercy plea can be decided much faster than what is being done now," said SC.

On January 21, the Supreme Court had commuted the death sentences of 15 convicts, stating that "inordinate and inexplicable" delays in carrying out executions could be the reason for commuting the punishment.