Were ostracised, lived in hiding: Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts’ kin

On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, after the Tamil Nadu government controversially recommended their remission in March 2016.

Chennai Eighty-one-year-old S Padma watched for three decades as her daughter, Nalini Sriharan, was named as one of the prime accused of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, convicted, sentenced to death, and then assigned to life in prison. All this time, like the families of the other convicts, Padma hoped that Nalini would somehow be set free.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. (PTI)

On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, after the Tamil Nadu government controversially recommended their remission in March 2016.

Speaking to HT on the phone from Vellore, Padma said that, despite the conviction – a remission is not an acquittal – she still believes her daughter was innocent. “We are all Congress sympathisers. I grew up attending Congress gatherings with my father. We would have never thought of betraying anyone from the Congress,” Padma insisted.

Nalini was convicted for being part of the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi while he was on the campaign trail ahead of the 1991 general elections. She and some of the other now-deceased accused met at a bus stand in Chennai, and went to the venue in Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram on the evening of May 21, 1991. There, Nalini provided cover to the suicide bomber Dhanu before she gained access to Rajiv Gandhi to detonate an explosive concealed in her waist belt. Nalini was charged on 121 different counts, and convicted in 1998.

The ball for her release was set rolling on May 18 after AG Perarivalan, the first of the seven convicts in the case, was released by the Supreme Court on grounds of poor health and good conduct. A bench of justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna on Friday said, “We find that factors which weighed with this court while directing release of Perarivalan are equally applicable to all present applicants.”

Padma said that Nalini is her eldest daughter, and that her two younger children – a daughter and a son – work in the media and live in Chennai. “We tried to keep them away from all this. We lived in hiding, ostracised by family members, facing insults,” Padma said.

The seven convicts – Perarivalan, Nalini Sriharan, Murugan alias Sriharan, Santhan, P Ravichandran, Robert Payas and S Jayakumar – were arrested in 1991. Four of the seven, including Nalini’s husband Sriharan are Sri Lankan nationals.

Following Perarivalan’s release, Nalini moved the Madras HC in June seeking release, but her petition was dismissed. She and P Ravichandran then petitioned the Supreme Court in August, seeking early release. Nalini and Ravichandran are both on parole since December 2021.

A graduate in English, and pregnant when she was arrested – elements that added to one of India’s most compelling narratives for much of the 1990s – Sriharan completed her MBA in prison, and seven diploma courses from Indira Gandhi National Open University, her counsel P Pugazhendhi said. Her daughter, S Harithra, was born in jail, and now lives in London after family members took her to Europe. “Nalini and her husband will try to go to London to be with their daughter,” said Pugazhendhi.

Speaking to HT, Ravichandran said that the support from Tamil Nadu’s political parties gave him hope while he was in jail. “I don’t know if I can ever overcome what I went through for such a long period of time but it was support from political parties which gave me and the others hope,” Ravichandran said.

The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and its allies, barring the Congress, have welcomed the top court’s order, describing it as a victory for human rights. The Congress said the convicts have only been released and not acquitted, so they should not be seen as heroes.

Since he got parole more than a year ago, Ravichandran said he has lived with his mother and younger brother in Thoothukudi. “They helped me with all the legal financing. Our first reaction today was relief that the pain and everything is finally over,” he said.

Like Sriharan, Ravichandran said that he studied while in prison, completing an MA in History. “I have been disciplined inside jail and I know I have educational qualifications. But I don’t know in what way society will accept me,” the 53-year-old said.

Of the remaining Lankans – Murugan, Robert Payas, Santhan and Jayakumar – Pugazhendhi said Jayakumar is likely to want to stay in India as his wife and children live in Chennai’s Vyasarpadi. “It is up to the government to decide if they can continue to live here. Payas’ family is in the Netherlands but Santan will surely go back to Sri Lanka,” he said.

On Saturday morning, Padma and Nalini are likely to go to the women’s special cell in Vellore to collect documents for her release. “The police have told her not to speak to people until we receive the documents. After that, she will be free,” Padma said.