TN told not to proceed with release of Rajiv killers says Manmohan

Holding that assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on India’s soul, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the release of his killers would be “contrary to all principles of justice” and the Tamil Nadu government has been told not to proceed with it as it is “not legally tenable”.

In a statement in New Delhi, he said that no government or party should be soft in the fight against terrorism, an apparent reference to the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu which has decided to release all the seven convicts in the assassination case after the Supreme Court commuted death sentence of three of them to life imprisonment.

He said the Centre has “informed the Tamil Nadu government that their proposed course of action to release the killers of Rajiv Gandhi is not legally tenable and should not be proceeded with.”

The Jayalalithaa government decided to set free all seven convicts in the assassination case after the apex court had commuted the death penalty of three of them to life imprisonment.