Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 9: The Supreme Court granted bail to Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivala on Wednesday, while his appeal to the President of India for the remission of his life sentence is still pending.
Perarivalan was ordered to be released on bail by a bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai, subject to the compliance of the trial court’s terms. He must report to the police station in his neighborhood.
He is also forbidden from leaving his hometown of Jholarpetai, around 100 kilometres from Chennai, without first reporting to the police.
Meanwhile, the court continued to hear the issue on the Governor’s powers to decide on his early release, which was granted by the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, and the Governor’s referral of the case to the President.
Notably, the Supreme Court affirmed the death sentences of four prisoners, Perarivalan, Murugan, Santham, and Nalini, in a decision issued in May 1999.
The Supreme Court modified Perarivalan’s death sentence to life imprisonment, along with the sentences of two other inmates Santhan and Murugan on February 18, 2014, citing the Centre’s 11-year delay in deciding their mercy petitions.
