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Rajiv killer to challenge verdict
Perarivalan, one of the three Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres sentenced to death for assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, is all set to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition by President Pratibha Patil.
Perarivalan, one of the three Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres sentenced to death for assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, is all set to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition by President Pratibha Patil.
His mother, Arputham Ammal, on Friday demanded a fresh trial asserting that he was framed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Another accused, Nalini, had her sentence commuted to life.
Arputham Ammal, maintaining that her son was innocent, said she would challenge the rejection of mercy petition.
Perarivalan was awarded the death sentence for assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 at Sriperumbudur along with Murugan and Santhan.
Seventy-year-old Arputham, insisted that her son, who has spent 20 years in jail, was found guilty on the basis of evidence given by a shopkeeper.
She said she would seek help from chief minister J Jayalalithaa to prevent her innocent son from facing the gallows.
He was not at all connected with it,” she reiterated raising doubts as to how genuine was the investigation. “While A1 (prime accused) Nalini’s sentence was commuted, why apply a different yardstick to my son?” she said, as her son was only the 18th accused.
She said there was no fair trail as it was held in camera under TADA, which has since lapsed. Arivu, as her son is known, in his clemency plea had maintained that he was tortured to give confessions.
The three could face the hangman very soon, depending on the formal communication of the President’s decision to the prisons department.
Politically, the development places both AIADMK and DMK on a tricky wicket as pro-Tamil parties like VCK, PMK and outfits like Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam would try to rekindle passions in support of Tamil Tigers.
