Congress opposes Tamil Nadu govt's move to free Rajiv Gandhi's killers

New Delhi: A day after the Tamil Nadu government said that it has decided to remit the sentence of life imprisonment of all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and release them, the Congress party on Thursday opposed the move in Parliament.

Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge said in Lok Sabha that the Tamil Nadu government's letter to the Centre on Rajiv Gandhi's killers release shouldn't be entertained.

“They should not be released,” Kharge said.

While announcing the decision, the J Jayalalithaa government had said that it has sought the Centre's views on the move.

In a letter to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan said the state government had received petitions from the seven convicts requesting to release them as 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.

"Nalini has also filed a writ plea in the Madras High Court requesting the government of Tamil Nadu to release her," he said.

"The Government of Tamil Nadu, after taking into consideration the petitions of the seven convicts, has decided to remit the sentences of life imprisonment and to release the seven persons since all of them have already served imprisonment for 24 years," he said.

Out of the seven convicts, V Sriharan, T Suthendraraja, Jayakumar and Robert Payas are Sri Lankans.

(With PTI inputs)