Madras HC grants 24-hour parole to Rajiv Gandhi killer Nalini Sriharan

Chennai: Madras High Court on Tuesday granted one-day parole to Rajiv Gandhi killer Nalini Sriharan to attend father’s memorial service.

Sriharan, serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, had moved the Madras High Court seeking three days leave from Tuesday for attending the 16th day obsequies of her father, who passed away last month, to held here on March 9.

24-hour parole starting from today at 4 pm to 4 pm tomorrow. The judge said she should be under police escort and be brought back to prison by 4 pm tomorrow.

In her petition, Nalini had submitted that she had made a representation on March 2 to the Superintendent of Special Prison for Women in Vellore, where she is lodged, seeking three days leave but the official had not responded so far.

She said she was granted parole for 12 hours on February 24 to attend the cremation of her father Sankaranarayanan. The 16th day obsequies of her father was scheduled to be held on March 9 in Karnataka’s Kottur.

Nalini was sentenced to death by the trial court in the case on January 28, 1998. Her sentence was commuted to life term by the Tamil Nadu Governor on April 24, 2000.