AG Perarivalan, one of the life convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was released on one month parole on Tuesday. He was released from Vellore Central prison as he had applied for parole to meet his ailing father and also to attend a family wedding.
Perarivalan was lodged in Puzhal prison as it was convenient for him to get treated at the local Government Hospital. He was later sent to Vellore Central Prison from where he was released on parole after completing the formalities.
Perarivalan along with Nalini, Murugan, Santhan, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Jayakumar has been in jail for 28 years after being convicted in the assassination in 1991. Perarivalan was 19 years old in 1991, when Dhanu alias Thenmozhi Rajaratnam blew herself up near Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a public meeting in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
Perarivalan had reportedly said that he was unaware of the purpose of the two nine-volt batteries he was asked to buy – the main charge against him. But former CBI officer V Thiagarajan, who recorded Perarivalan’s statement at the time, had failed to include this as he assumed it would cast a shadow on the case or could have been a lie.
For over two decades, Arputhammal, his mother, has been waging a legal battle for the release of her son. The 71-year-old mother maintains that her son is innocent in the assassination by the LTTE. In July this year she met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking the release of her son. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief and Chidambaram MP Thol Thirumavalavan, who had facilitated the meeting, was also present.
The court had, on July 5, granted month-long parole to Nalini, another convict in the case, after 28 years in prison. On August 22, three days before her parole got over, she requested an extension stating that she could not finish the wedding arrangements despite her best efforts. Her request for an extension was granted by a bench consisting of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice M Nirmal Kumar, who extended her parole by three more weeks. Her request to extend her parole further was dismissed by Justice MM Sundresh and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman.
(With inputs from IANS)
Source: The News Minute