The Madras High Court on Monday granted 15 days parole to Ravichandran, one of the seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to attend to his ailing mother and also to settle some family matters.
Acting on a petition by his mother, Justices T Raja and B Pugalendi granted him parole from January 10, though the state government submitted that it would not be possible to provide police security for him in view of Pongal festival.
The petitioner submitted that her son, who was convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, had been lodged in Madurai central prison for more than 27 years, after he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Tamil Nadu government had taken a decision to release him and the recommendation for the same was pending with the state Governor, she submitted. The petitioner said Ravichandran, who was 21 years old when he was imprisoned, was now 48 years old.
Stating that she was old and had some health issues, Ravichandran’s mother also said that she struggling to settle various family issues.
She submitted that the Tamil nadu government had already asked the police to consider her application for parole for her son. However the parole request had been rejected. Hence she requested the court to grant her son parole.
Ravichandran, along with Nalini and her husband Murugan, Santhan, Robert Payas, Perarivalan and S Jayakumar are serving life term in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber at an election rally in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. Recently the court had granted paroles to Nalini to arrange her daughter’s wedding in 2019. Perarivalan was also granted a month-long parole by the court in November 2019 to meet his ailing father and to attend a family wedding.
Source: The News Minute