The Supreme Court on Thursday, restrained the Tamil Nadu government from releasing three killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Centre had filed an appeal against the Tamil Nadu government order releasing all seven assassins of Rajiv Gandhi.
Here is a profile of the three killers whose release has been stopped.
AG Perarivalan
Born on July 30,1971, in Jolarpet in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, Perarivalan had completed his Diploma in Electronics and Communication Engineering at the time of his arrest in 1991.
He has been charged with providing a 9-volt battery for the explosive device to assassination conspirator Sivarasan.
Murugan
He was the key LTTE instructor and explosive expert from Jaffna. He was married to Nalini Sriharan with whom he was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 1999. While serving their term together, Nalini delivered a baby girl and was commuted to life sentence.
He was been charged with providing logical support to the assassins.
Santhan
He was part of the first batch of three operatives who reached India on September 12, 1990. Close friend of the human bomb, Dhanu, he was seen off at Jaffna by LTTE's intelligence chief Pottu Amman. Nalini, in her confession, had said Santhan along with Sivarasan spared none who did not cooperate with them.
He was charged with providing support to the assassins.
Apart from these, the four other convicts in the case are:
S Nalini:
Nalini completed her graduation from a Chennai college and was pursuing her Masters through correspondence while working as a stenographer for a private company in the city. According to the prosecution, Nalini became close to pro-LTTE activists - and allegedly even the active cadres - at a printing press run by her brother P S Bhagyanathan where pro-Tamil Eelam literature was printed.
Jayakumaran:
Jayakumaran's sister is married to another convict in the case Payas. The two were allegedly sent to India by the rebels to set up safe houses for the main accused who undertook the operation.
Payas:
Payas and Jayakumaran were also charged with aiding the surviving members of the assassination party and concealing weapons. However, the Supreme Court turned down the death penalty awarded by the trial court, holding that they were not found to be part of the actual conspiracy.
P Ravichandran:
According to the prosecution, Ravi was an active member of the LTTE and had visited Lanka for arms training where he met the rebel leadership several times. He was introduced to Sivarasan by Pottu Amman during one of his trips, and asked to make arrangements for Sivarasan.
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