Chennai: Governor Banwarilal Purohit has denied reports in a section of media that he had forwarded to the Centre the state government’s recommendation to release all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and asserted that “a decision will be taken in a just and fair manner in accordance with the Constitution”.
A week after the Tamil Nadu government recommended the release of the seven convicts, Perarivalan, Murugan, Santhan, Nalini, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran, the Governor said that a decision has not yet been reached on the matter.
On September 9, at a Cabinet meeting of state ministers, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami decided to recommend the release of all the seven serving life terms for assassinating the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, under Article 161 (Power of Governor to suspend or pardon sentences) of the Constitution. Following this a section of media carried reports on the Governor recommending the release of the prisoners.
“It is clarified that no reference has been made to the ministry of home affairs in the matter. The case is a complex one and involves the examination of legal, administrative and Constitutional issues,” the Governor said reacting to media reports that claimed he had recommended to the Union home ministry on the convicts’ release.
In a statement here on Saturday Mr Purohit made it clear that the files on the convicts from the Tamil Nadu government had only been received on Friday. “The records which are voluminous are being received from the state government with the connected judgments having been handed over to the Raj Bhavan on September 14 only. All efforts will be made to process the papers scrupulously. Necessary consultation may be carried out when required in due course,” the Governor said. “The decision will be taken in a just and fair manner and in accordance with the constitution,” he added.
The Prime Minister was assassinated at a public rally in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, by Dhanu, a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
