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News Desk: The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted AG Perarivalan, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, under Article 142.
He was 19 at the time of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Perarivalan was accused of buying two 9-volt batteries for Srivasan, a member of the LTTE. That battery was used to cause the explosion. Perarivalan was sentenced to death in 1998 following his arrest. However, in 2014 it was changed to life time imprisonment. Bail was granted in March this year. After that, Perarivalan applied for release before the scheduled time. It was opposed by the center.
The central government said the matter was left to President Ramnath Kovind by the governor of Tamil Nadu. The apex court raised questions about no decision made by the President for a long time. It is learned that the Tamil Nadu government wants all the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to be pardoned under section 161. So the governor is bound to accept the decision of the state cabinet. As a result, it is not necessary to wait for the President’s opinion. Later that day, the Supreme Court ordered the release of Perarivalan.
