Rajiv Gandhi was killed while campaigning in Tamil Nadu by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). (File photo AP)
The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday wrote to the Centre informing them about its decision to release the seven convicted for the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
In a letter, State Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan said the state government has received petitions from the convicts, requesting their release since they had spent more than 20 years in prison.
The convicts are V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, AG Perarivalan alias Arivu, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini.
In 2014, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of three, Murugan, Perarivalan, Santhan, citing the eleven year delay by the President's office to dispose their clemency petition.
Earlier, Nalini's death sentence was commuted following the intervention of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, also the wife of Rajiv Gandhi, after Nalini delivered a baby in prison.
In an earlier attempt to release the convicts, the Tamil Nadu government in 2014 had written to the central government, but the Centre, opposing the state government's view, had moved the Supreme Court. The court had said that the state government cannot release convicts without the concurrence of the Centre in the cases investigated by Central Bureau of investigation.
Except the Congress and the BJP, all political parties in the state demand release of these seven convicts.
Unlike last time, the state government has not given a three-day deadline to Centre for its response.
DMK Chief Karunanidhi has appealed to the central government to facilitate the release all seven convicts.
Rajiv Gandhi was killed while campaigning in Tamil Nadu by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the separatist rebel group from neighbouring Sri Lanka.