The four Sri Lankan convicts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who were released on November 11, will be sent back to their home country. Among the six convicts who were released, Santhan, Robert Payas, Murugan alias Sriharan, and Jayakumar are Sri Lankan. They were moved from the Vellore prison to a special camp in Trichy, as is the norm when foreign nationals convicted of crimes are released.
Speaking to TNM, Trichy’s District Collector Pradeep Kumar said, “The general procedure is to send foreign convicts back to their country. Till then, they are accommodated in the special camp as directed by the FRRO (Foreign Regional Registration Offices). The FRRO has also contacted the Sri Lankan embassy so that they [the four convicts] have permission to land when they reach.”
The Collector also stated that the convicts can stay back in the country if they want to. He said, “If they do not want to leave, they can provide a formal written request stating that they wish to stay here. This will be forwarded to the FRRO and they will decide whether the person concerned can stay or not.”
Although no formal request has been made by the four of them, the Hindustan Times reported that Nalini’s husband Sriharan wanted to stay with their daughter in London, Robert Payas wanted to go to his family in the Netherlands, and Jayakumar wanted to stay back in Chennai with his wife and children. Only Santhan wanted to go back to Sri Lanka, the report added.
On November 11, the Supreme Court ordered the release of the six people convicted in the assassination of the former Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 by a suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at an election meeting in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. Seven people – Murugan, Nalini, AG Perarivalan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas and P Ravichandran were convicted in 1991 and were given death penalties, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. AG Perarivalan was released in May 2022.
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