Will release Rajiv's assassins if centre fails to reply soon: Jayalalithaa

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa triggered outrage in the Congress and elsewhere after the state government decided to release all seven assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. This comes a day after Supreme Court of India commuted death sentences of three accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination to life term because of an 11-year delay in deciding on their petitions for mercy. The Supreme Court had granted powers to the Tamil Nadu government to exercise its remission powers under the sections 432 and 433 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc). Jayalalithaa decided to release the convicts after due consultations with the central government and announced the same in the state assembly on Wednesday.