Rajiv Gandhi murder: Who are the 7 convicts the TN govt wants to free?

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to release seven persons who were convicted for their role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. Three of them were on death row and had their sentences commuted to life sentence by the apex court yesterday while the others are serving life terms. Here are the seven persons who stand to be released from jail and their role in the assassination: Santhan alias T. Suthenthiraraja: A Sri Lankan national in his twenties at the time of the assassination, Santhan was allegedly a member of the intelligence wing of the LTTE and was close to the prime accused Sivarasan. He was sent to Madras to continue his studies and after coming to India, studied in the Madras Institute of Engineering Technology, where his fees were allegedly paid by the LTTE. Santhan was allegedly a crucial cog in the planning of the assassination and  was one of the few conspirators who was informed early on about the fact that their target was Rajiv Gandhi. He had also met with Sivarasan on the day of the assassination and seen him off. [caption id=“attachment_1398361” align=“alignnone” width=“380”]  Gandhi was killed in a suicide bombing in 1990. Reuters[/caption] **Nalini:**The sole survivor of the suicide assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Nalini is also the wife of Murugan, another convict in the case. Nalini hosted two women who were brought from Sri Lanka to carry out the attack. They stayed with her and her husband while the plan was laid out. Nalini also accompanied the women and prime accused Sivarasan to attend the rally of the then Prime Minister VP Singh in order to assess security arrangements for such events. Nalini is also accused of having taken the two women bombers, Suba and Thanu, to a garments store to buy the clothes they wore on the day of the killing and is accused of having being informed in advance that they would be targeting Rajiv Gandhi. Nalini accompanied the team to the Sriperempudur rally of the former Prime Minister. After the blast killed Rajiv Gandhi, Thanu and another conspirator, she and Suba met with Sivarasan and fled the spot. Murugan: Twenty one years old at the time of the incident, Murugan was a part of the LTTE in Sri Lanka and was allegedly sent to India to carry out the assassination. In a confession given to the police, Murugan admitted that he was a part of the ‘suicide squad’ and had come to India in January 1991 and even motivated Nalini to join the LTTE. He had also aided in a recce carried out before the assassination attempt in which the eventual bombers had attended a rally of the then Prime Minister VP Singh.  Following the successful assassination, Murugan went with wife Nalini to give thanks at the Tirupati temple according to investigators. He was convicted on the basis of his confessional statement which a court observed showed his role as one of the key conspirators. AG Perarivalan: A 20-year-old at the time, Perarivalan, is the son of a Tamil poet and had been a part of the LTTE from 1989. He was involved in the sale of LTTE literature and even met LTTE chief Veluppillai Prabhakaran and other leaders of LTTE when he went to Sri Lanka. He was accused of aiding the movement of LTTE cadres into India and even preparing a sketch of the Vellore fort to free prisoners of the terror group. Perarivalan was also allegedly involved in getting equipment for the bomb used to kill Rajiv Gandhi and also carrying out a reece of VP Singh’s rally to assess security arrangements. Robert Pious:: A Sri Lankan Tamil, he is alleged to have landed with his wife and others as part of a batch of LTTE commandos in September 1990. Pious had claimed his child had died due to atrocities perpetrated by the IPKF sent to Sri Lanka due to which he wanted to seek revenge. Pious, in his confession statement, has admitted to being part of the key planners for the assassination and was convicted for his role in the conspiracy. Jayakumar: The brother in law of Pious, Jayakumar was also sent to India by the LTTE in 1990. Jayakumar is said to have arranged for a house in Tamil Nadu where the other accused would stay and prepared the plan for the assassination. Ravichandran: A Sri Lankan national, Ravichandran landed in India in December 1990 and was actively funded by prime accused Sivarasan while being asked to carry out various tasks. He was also reportedly given money to set up a travel agency and buy a vehicle that would be used by other LTTE cadre.