New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Tamil Nadu Government on the issue of pardon of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
It was hearing a plea by one of the convicts, A G Perarivalan, for suspension of life sentence till the completion of the probe by the CBI led-Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency into the larger conspiracy behind the assassination of the former Prime Minister on 21 May, 1991, in Sriperumbudur by a woman suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Apex court asked the state government to file a report within two weeks on the issue.
"You file a report and inform about the Governor's decision in two weeks," ruled a bench, headed by Justice L N Rao.
The top court observed that the past two reports filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation-led monitoring agency, on probe into larger conspiracy behind the assassination, are identical.
During the hearing of a Special Leave Petition filed by one of the convicts in the case, it is informed that the apex court had directed the CBI to file a status report on the further investigation conducted by the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) of CBI on the mandate stipulated by the Jain Commission of Inquiry (JCI) and the same has been filed.
During the hearing, the clarifications sought by the court have been answered based on the progress in investigation. The counsel for the CBI explained to the court that the investigation on majority of the pointers of JCI have been completed.
However, finalising of some of the issues is based on the outcome of Letters Rogatory sent abroad. There were 25 Letters Rogatory sent to 24 countries, out of which, the execution reports in part, is awaited from three countries.
The court directed the Tamil Nadu government to inform in two weeks if any decision has been taken by the Governor under Article 161 on pardon, commutation or remission of sentence with regard to convicts in the assassination case.
UNI XC JW2307