Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: Four freed convicts to be deported to Sri Lanka
The Centre has informed the Madras High Court that it has taken steps to deport all four Sri Lankans, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to Sri Lanka. Foreigners Regional Registration Officer P Ve Arun Sakthikumar, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs stated this in his counter affidavit filed on Thursday, in response to a petition filed by S Nalini, one of the seven convicts ordered to be released by the Supreme Court last year.
She had sought direction from the authorities to release her husband Sriharan alias Murugan from the Special Camp (Foreigners Detention Centre), Tiruchirapally, to enable him to live with her in the city.
In her petition, Nalini said when she was arrested she was pregnant, and her daughter was born on December 19, 1992, while she was detained in the Chengalpattu sub-jail.
Convict Nalini’s daughter is now married and living with her husband and child in London. Nalini submitted her daughter is a citizen of the United Kingdom and that Murugan would like to settle with her there. Moreover, he has to contact the Sri Lankan Embassy in connection with his passport. Since he was detained in the Special Camp, he was unable to move out.
She made a representation dated May 20, 2023, to the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer here, requesting that her husband be released from the Special Camp to enable him to live with her in Chennai. However, there was no response from the authorities, she added.
In his counter, the officer said since all four Sri Lankan nationals arrived in India illegally by boat and did not possess valid Sri Lankan travel documents/passports and as per the extant guidelines of the MHA circular, dated April 24, 2014, a movement restriction order was issued FRRO, Chennai, against them to lodge them in the Trichy special camp till their deportation to their native country Sri Lanka.
He further stated that meanwhile in this regard, a communication had been sent to MEA (Consular Division) by a letter dated November 12, 2022, along with Biographic details requesting for issuance of travel documents/passports in favour of all the four Sri Lankans from Sri Lankan High Commission, India for further deportation to their native country. In May, a representation was received from Nalini requesting this office to release her husband from the foreigners’ detention camps so that they can live together. Since the communication from MEA was awaited, her representation was kept pending at our end, he added.
Besides Murugan, the other Lankans convicted in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination are–Santhan, Robert Payas, and Jayakumar. They were all ordered to be released last year by the Supreme Court. Three others– Perarivalan, Nalini, and Ravichandran— all Indians, were also released following apex Court orders. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a woman suicide bomber of the banned LTTE in 1991 at nearby Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- Supreme Court rejects plea to tally all VVPAT slips with EVM votes; says ‘no going back to paper ballot’ - April 26, 2024
- US report citing human rights violations is deeply biased: India - April 25, 2024
- Kotak Mahindra Bank shares tank 13%. Market Cap erodes by Rs.37,721 cr post-RBI action - April 25, 2024
