Digvijay Singh condemns Tamil Nadu govt`s decision to release Rajiv Gandhi`s killers

A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced her decision to release six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh condemned the move.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced her decision to release six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday condemned the move. Expressing his unhappiness, Singh said the Tamil Nadu CM must reconsider her decision. On microblogging website Twitter, Singh said:

Sad Day for our Democracy. Killers of Rajivji being released by TN Govt . Is it Just? Strongly condemn it.CM TN must reconsider her decision

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) February 20, 2014

Six men and a woman -- both Indians and Sri Lankans -- convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case will be freed, Jayalalithaa announced yesterday. The decision prompted Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to observe that his father did not get justice. The Tamil Nadu CM told the Assembly that the government has decided to release convicts V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar (Sri Lankans) and AG Perarivalan alias Arivu, Nalini and Ravichandran (Indians). All seven had been in prison since 1991, the year a woman Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew up former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally near Chennai. An emotional Rahul Gandhi said: "The Prime Minister gave his life... (but the) Prime Minister does not get justice." "My father will not come back but it is a matter of the country, not of my family or my father." "If some one kills the prime minister and he is released, how will the common man get justice," he wondered at a gathering in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Jayalalithaa said the Cabinet decision to free the seven would be sent to the central government. If the central government did not respond within three days, the state would release all the seven. The development came a day after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence awarded to Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan citing the inordinate delay in deciding their mercy petitions. (With IANS inputs)