Zeenews Bureau
Chennai: The Madras High Court will Thursday decide on the plea for premature release by Nalini Sreeharan, serving life term in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
A Division Bench comprising justices Elipe Dharmarao and K K Sashidaran will deicide the case on basis of a report by the Prison Advisory Board to be submitted by the Tamil Nadu government in the court today.
The state government's counsel had, yesterday, asked for a 2-week adjournment after it received the report; however, the court rejected the request and directed it to produce the report today.
The board, headed by Vellore District Collector, was constituted by the government following a direction by the High Court on a plea by Nalini, imprisoned for the last 19 years.
As per reports, the advisory board has recommended Nalini's premature release, indicating that the state government after opposing her release is now favouring it.
Importantly, the Karunanidhi government had earlier made it clear that it will not take any decision without consulting the Centre.
Nalini, wife of a LTTE leader Murugan, was one of the accomplices in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and had accompanied the assassins to Sriperumbudur.
The board had recently heard the pleas of Nalini and three other convicts, who have also sought premature release.
All the four were sentenced to death by a special court in January 1998 and the Supreme Court had upheld the sentence.
The plea of Nalini, arrested on June 14, 1991 and sentenced to death by a special court along with 25 others in January 1998, was rejected by authorities concerned in October 2007.
She was convicted under Section 302 of IPC on 16 counts of murder. She was also found guilty under Section 3 of TADA and Section 120-B of IPC, dealing with conspiracy.
In May 1999, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of only four including Nalini. Her death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by the state on April 24, 2000 after the then Governor allowed her clemency petition
Nalini Sreeharan was one of the accomplices in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and had accompanied the other assassins to Sriperumbudur.
First Published: Thursday, March 11, 2010, 10:18