Priyanka did not meet Nalini: official

Superintendent of Vellore jail has denied that Priyanka Gandhi met her father Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Nalini Murugan in the jail on Mar19.

Jail superintendent of Vellore prison has denied that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met Nalini Murugan, who is serving a life term for her role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

HT Image

The denial came by way of superintendent Rajasoundari’s written reply to city lawyer D. Rajkumar’s query under the Right To Information Act (RTI) seeking details of the meeting.

“In response to your query, let me inform that on March 14, 2008, and March 19, 2008, nobody had visited the prisoner under contention,” the reply said in the context of whether any meeting had taken place with Nalini.

Rajasoundari’s reply was dated April 11 while Priyanka had acknowledged on April 16 that the meeting had taken place, reacting to media reports about the March 19 meeting. Priyanka said the meeting was her way of “coming to peace with violence and loss that I have experienced”.

Duraisamy, Nalini's advocate, said he had preferred an appeal to the State Information Commissioner, appointed under the RTI, alleging that the jail superintendent was trying to “hush up” the meeting and action should be taken against him. However, officials at the RTI Commissioner’s office were tightlipped on the issue.

Duraiswamy also claimed there was no entry of Priyanka’s visit in the jail records and alleged he may have been under instructions.