Indian Congress Slams Supreme Court Decision to Free Former PM Rajiv Gandhi's Killers

Former Prime Minister and Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide attack in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur in May 1991. While seven convicts were handed the death penalty for their role in plotting the assassination, their sentences were commuted to life terms following Sonia Gandhi's intervention.
Sputnik
India's main opposition party, Congress, criticized the Supreme Court on Friday for ordering the premature release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan in ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi's killing case.
In May this year, the seventh convict named A.G. Perarivalan was released after spending more than 30 years in prison following a court order.
Nalini, her husband V. Sriharan alias Murugan, and five others were convicted for facilitating Rajiv Gandhi's assassination who died in a suicide attack in Tamil Nadu in 1991.
The party said it would appeal for a review of the decision.
"The Congress party criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable. It is most unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue," Congress General Secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said.
The top court's decision came after Sriharan and another convict Ravichandran filed a petition seeking their early release from prison.
Earlier in June, the Madras High Court had dismissed their pleas for commuting their sentences.
With the Supreme Court ordering the release of the remaining six convicts in the case, all the seven behind bars for the assassination will now be out of jail.
All seven convicts were earlier sentenced to death which was commuted to life imprisonment in 2014 following appeals from Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv's children, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi.
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