After years of delay, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has finally conveyed to the Supreme Court that he will decide soon on the state government’s recommendation to pardon AG Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Appearing for the Union government in the Supreme Court on Thursday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the apex court that the Governor will take a decision in three or four days. The court was hearing Perarivalan’s plea seeking his release based on the state government’s government’s 2018 recommendation.
According to sources, the Governor seems to have made such a peculiar statement, that too through the Union government’s counsel, as he was wary that the court would give a judgment that would not augur well for him. “The Governor perhaps knew the direction in which the court was heading. He has two options in front of him now- accept the remission or send it back for reconsideration. The Governor does not have the authority to reject the state’s recommendation,” a lawyer working closely on the case told TNM.
In February 2014, the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had announced that her government would release the convicts under the section 432 of CrPC, after their death penalty was commuted. After many legal hurdles, in September 2018, the Tamil Nadu government led by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami recommended the release of all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to the Governor. The seven convicts, who are serving a life sentence, are Murugan, Santhan, AG Perarivalan, Nalini, Robert Pyas, Jayakumar, and Ravichandran. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had called for a cabinet meeting to discuss their release and it was unanimously agreed that they could be granted freedom given that they had spent over 30 years in prison. The release was recommended under Article 161 (power of Governor to suspend or pardon sentences) of the Constitution.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court termed the delay in the Governor’s decision to release Perarivalan as ‘extraordinary’, given that the Tamil Nadu government has already recommended a remission. However, the Union government questioned the power of the Governor to grant pardon to the convict, under Article 161 of the Constitution. Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj argued in court that Perarivalan’s plea should go to the President and not to the Governor.
Responding to this argument, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Prabu Ramasubramanian, who were representing Perarivalan, said that the Union Government’s argument was insinuating that for 70 years, pardon pleas were being sent to the wrong person. They also asked if all political prisoners were now expected to go to the President for a pardon, and added that the Union government brings up something new in the case every five years.
In 1999, the Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence to Perarivalan, Nalini, Murugan and four others over the assissantion of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. While Nalini’s death sentence was commuted to life in 2000, the Supreme Court in 2014 commuted the sentences of the other convicts to life.
Perarivalan or Arivu, the son of a Tamil poet named Kuyildasan and Arputhamal was 20 years old when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. He was arrested on 18 June 1991. He was primarily charged with taking LTTE leader Sivarasan to a motor shop on 4 May 1991 and buying a motorcycle in his own name but giving a wrong address. Perarivalan also bought two batteries (9-Volt Golden Power Battery) and handed them over to Sivarasan, this battery was used in the belt bomb that Dhanu used to kill Rajiv Gandhi.
In Perarivalan's case, it was his 'confessional statement' that led Justices KT Thomas, DP Wadhwa and SSM Quadri to conclude that Perarivalan was aware that Rajiv Gandhi was the target of the attack. However, in 2017, V Thiagarajan, former CBI Officer who was a part of the team that investigated Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination told the court that he had omitted a crucial part of Perarivalan’s statement. In an affidavit, Thiagarajan, who had recorded Perarivalan’s confession, stated that he had failed to record that Perarivalan was unaware of the purpose of the two nine volt batteries he was asked to buy.
Thiagarajan also stated that in the investigation after the confession, it was found that Perarivalan did not know the purpose of the batteries he was asked to buy. Expressing remorse for Perarivalan losing two decades of his life, languishing in prison, Thiagarajan also said that he came out with his statement to clear his conscience.
The CBI which investigated Rajiv Gandhi's assassination also said that Perarivalan was an LTTE supporter who even met Velupillai Prabhakaran and was selling LTTE publications in Tamil Nadu. However, Perarivalan's lawyers have consistently pointed out that many people in Tamil Nadu were aligned with the LTTE and especially prior to Rajiv assassination and there was nothing surprising about it.
Perarivalan was also found to have accompanied LTTE cadres Subha, Dhanu, Nalini and Murugan to Nandanam in Chennai, to recce a programme of former Prime Minister VP Singh, a few days before Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. However, according to his lawyers, since Perarivalan was not aware of who the target was, he was merely accompanying friends.