Chennai: A section of relatives of victims of a bomb blast that killed Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 on Thursday said they were considering impleading themselves in a case filed by the Centre against Tamil Nadu government`s decision to free seven convicts involved in the assassination of the former Prime Minister. Speaking to reporters in the presence of local Congress leaders, including its spokesperson V Narayanan,they said they also deserved justice as their near and dear ones were killed in the attack by a suicide bomber at nearby Sriperumbudur.
"We will implead ourselves after March 6, the next hearing," possibly after the arguments put forth by the Centre, `League` M Mohan, son of Congress functionary `League` Munusamy who was killed in the blast, said. Narayanan added "we will assist them" in this process.
Another person, identifying himself as John, brother of Edward Joseph, a policeman, said he cannot still forget what he saw on that fateful night, an apparent reference to gory scenes at the venue of a political rally Gandhi was scheduled to address.
Both Mohan and John indicated the state government`s decision to release the seven convicts including Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan and Nalini, could have been done with an eye on coming Lok Sabha elections. S Abbas, son of a woman Congress leader from South Chennai, said he had lost his mother at the age of 10 and faced many difficulties in the absence of her even as he lost his father earlier, he said.
"I felt bad. I don`t know who they (the killers) are. But my mother is not going to return," he said but evaded any direct response to the ongoing political controversy surrounding the release of the seven convicts.
The Congressmen accompanying the three, including Narayanan, demanded the families of the victims also be delivered justice.
A total of 15 persons, besides Rajiv Gandhi, were killed on that fateful day, five of them being from Congress.