Nalini Sriharan, one of the six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, said on Sunday that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met her in the jail and questioned her about the killing of her father, Rajiv Gandhi.
She further said that Priyanka Gandhi turned emotional and cried when she met her in jail. “Priyanka Gandhi met me in jail, and she asked me about her father’s killing. She got emotional for her father. She cried too,” said Sriharan, while addressing a press conference.
Sriharan, who is the longest-serving woman prisoner serving a life sentence in the country, was released from the Vellore jail on Saturday following an order from the Supreme Court on Friday, freeing all six convicts, including RP Ravichandran, in the case.
Sriharan further urged the Tamil Nadu government to take the necessary actions to release her husband as soon as possible from the Trichy Special camp.
“On Monday I am going to meet my husband at Trichy Special camp. We got married and we have a child who lives aboard. My daughter is so excited to meet her father. I really want to go and see a few places in Tamil Nadu mainly the late Kamala Sir Memorial. I can’t meet my husband yet so am not happy at present. I request the Tamil Nadu government to take the necessary actions to release him as soon as possible from the Camp,” she said.
She further said that she wants to meet all the people who helped her to come out of this case.
“I want to see Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. I want to meet CM Stalin soon and really want to thank him. I am very thankful to the Gandhi Family. I am ready to meet them if I get a chance to meet them,” Sriharan said.
Recounting her days in jail she said that the convicts were treated in jail like death convicts and even though she was two months pregnant she was locked inside the prison
“We have been treated in jail like death convicts. Even when I was two months pregnant, they locked me inside the prison,” Sriharan said. Talking about her future plans, she said, “Family will be my priority and I am not going to do anything professional. My whole life is totally destroyed already so I am going to take care of the family,” she added.
Supreme Court Advocate Ananda Selvan said, “She was living in prison for more than 30 years so we wanted to help her. We had worked for 20 years to help her. Due to good conduct, Tamil Nadu Government agreed to give premature release to her.”
Apart from Nalini, the other convicts in the case are Ravichandran, Robert Payas, Jayakumar, S Raja, and Sriharan.
Ravichandran, one of the six convicts in the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, was released from Madurai Central Prison.
The Tamil Nadu government had earlier recommended the premature release of convicts saying that its 2018 aid and advice for the remission of their life sentence is binding upon the Governor.
Nalini Sriharan and five others were serving life sentence terms in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. They were set free by the SC on the grounds of having good conduct in jail.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group during a public rally. The seven convicts were sentenced to death for their role in the killing. They included Nalini Sriharan, RP Ravichandran, Jayakumar, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas, and AG Perarivalan.
In the year 2000, Nalini Sriharan’s sentence was reduced to a life term. Later in the year 2014, the sentence of the other six convicts was also reduced, and during the same year, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalitha recommended the release of all the seven convicts in the case.
