Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Nalini Sriharan granted 30-day parole by TN govt

One of the seven convicts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Nalini Sriharan has been released on 30-day parole at the request of her ailing mother.

Earlier on Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government, after receiving repeated requests from her ailing mother Padmavathi, informed the Madras High Court about granting ordinary parole to Nalini who was lodged in the Vellore Special Prison. She will be released on Friday after completing proper formalities. 

The petition was also filed by her mother in the Madras High Court and it was during the hearing when the government counsel revealed the decision of the state government. Nalini's mother citing age-related reasons urged the court to direct the Home Ministry for granting parole for her daughter. 

Since her arrest in 1991, this is the second time that Nalini Sriharan will be released on ordinary parole. Earlier, she was released in July 2019 to attend the wedding of her daughter. Previously, she was released on parole after the death of her father and also for her brother's wedding. However, it lasted only a couple of hours. 

Nalini Sriharan - convict in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

Nalini Sriharan, who was arrested in 1991, is the longest-serving female prisoner in the country. She along with her mother Padmavathi, her husband Murugan, and 24 others were sentenced to death in 1998 by a special TADA court and the Supreme Court of India. They were arrested in connection to the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.  

Later in 1999, the majority of them were released including her mother, while the death sentence of Nalini and her husband Murugan and 2 others were upheld. It was during that time when Nalini got pregnant with her daughter, who was born in prison and spent her initial four years over there.

Later, her daughter was sent outside for education. Nalini and her husband's death sentence was also commuted to life imprisonment considering their daughter.

Former PM Rajiv Gandhi was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber in May 1991 when he was addressing an election rally in Tamil Nadu. Notably, Nalini was the lone surviving member of the squad and was a close aide of LTTE operative, Murugan.

Image: PTI