Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case: Nalini Sriharan Gets One Month Parole

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government granted one month Parole to Nalini Sriharan, one of the seven people convicted in the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India

Nalini's mother Padma has been pleading for her release for some time.

Padma had indicated in her statement that she was suffering from numerous illnesses and wished for her daughter to be with her, as well as that she had previously made complaints to the state administration.

"The prisons department has issued a letter asking her (Nalini) to be permitted 30-days release by presenting two sureties," stated the family's lawyer, V Pugazhendi, in a message dated December 22. "It's expected that the one-month leave will begin on December 25 or 26.

Hassan Mohammed Jinnah, the State Special Public Prosecutor, told the Madras High Court on Thursday that the state government had granted Nalini, who was held in the Vellore Special Prison for Women, one-month ordinary parole.

Padma's petition for her daughter's release was heard before a bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and R. Hemalatha. According to Padma's lawyer, M. Radhakrishnan, the division bench closed the petition after hearing the Special Public Prosecutor's submission.

Nalini would be staying with her mother Padma, sister Kalyani, and brother Bakianathan in rented lodgings in Satuvachery, Vellore, under police supervision, the same way as she did when she was granted parole in 2019.

Nalini and her fellow convicts were recommended for release by the Tamil Nadu cabinet in 2018; however, the file was not cleared by the Governor. She and other convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case have petitioned the Madras High Court to be released without the Governor's assent, and the case is still ongoing.

In the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Nalini and six others were sentenced to life in prison.

Rajiv Gandhi was slain by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, in May 1991. A total of 14 persons were killed in the attack.

Rajiv Gandhi was busy campaigning in southern India for the elections. After campaigning in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on May 21, he travelled to Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. Gandhi was taken by motorcade in a white Ambassador car to Sriperumbudur around two hours after arriving in Madras (now Chennai), stopping at a few other election campaigning spots along the route.

The assassin, Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, was said to have exited a blue car with another woman (most likely her back-up bomber Shubha) and a man in white kurta pyjamas (most likely Sivarasan and Nalini), according to security officers.

When Rajiv arrived at a campaign event in Sriperumbudur, he got out of his car and started going towards the dais, where he was scheduled to speak. Many well-wishers, Congress party officials, and schoolchildren greeted him along the way.

Dhanu (Thenmozhi Rajaratnam), the assassin, approached and greeted him. At exactly 10:10 p.m., she reached down to touch his feet and exploded an RDX explosive-laden belt placed beneath her dress. In the explosion that ensued, Gandhi, his assassin, and 14 others were killed, along with 43 more were severely injured. Local photographer Haribabu caught the assassination on film, and his equipment and film were found undamaged at the crime scene despite his own death.

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