Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Nalini returns to prison after 12-hour parole

Chennai/Vellore: Nalini Sriharan, who is undergoing life imprisonment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was lodged back in the Vellore prison on Wednesday evening, after she attended the last rites of her father during the 12-hour parole she was granted. In her 25 years of incarceration, this is the second time she has got parole. In 2004, she had got a similar parole to attend the marriage of her brother. She left the Vellore Central Prison (Women’s Jail) at 6.50 am under police escort and reached Chennai at 10 am and attended the last rites of her father Sankara Narayanan at Kotturpuram. [caption id=“attachment_2641654” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nalini being escorted by police personnel. File photo. PTI[/caption] “She started for Vellore at 3.25 pm from Chennai and reached the prison at 6.45 pm, and she was immediately lodged in her cell,” a senior Women’s prison official said. Ninety-two year old Sankara Narayanan, a former Police inspector passed away on Tuesday in Tirunelveli district. His body was brought here to his son Bhagyanathan’s house at Kotturpuram here. Political party leaders including actor-director turned chief of Naam Tamizhar Katchi Seeman, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi MLA Jawahirullah, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi chief Thol Thirumavalavan paid their last respects to Sankara Narayanan. They expressed their condolences to family members including Nalini. Nalini’s brother Bhagyanathan said that his sister and others convicted in the case like Perarivalan alias Arivu had spent over 25 years in prison. “I request the government to release them. They have parents in advanced age who are eagerly expecting their release,” he told reporters. Nalini was sentenced to death by the trial court in the case on 28 January, 1998. Her sentence was commuted to life term by the Tamil Nadu Governor on 24 April, 2000. On 14 December last year, she had moved Madras High Court seeking a direction to Tamil Nadu government to consider her representation for premature release, saying she has undergone imprisonment for more than 24 years. PTI