The Indian Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of AG Pararivalan, who was convicted in the assassination case of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
According to Indian media, a bench of the apex court headed by Justice S. Nagaswara, using the special powers vested in it under Article 142, ordered the release of AG Pararivalin after 31 years.
The governor and the president are currently awaiting the mercy petition of the convicted AG Pararivlin.
In 2008, the Tamil Nadu cabinet decided to release him.
But the governor referred the matter to the president, whose release has been pending ever since.
The Supreme Court had reserved judgment on May 10 after hearing the case.
AG Perarivalan was convicted of supplying batteries for the bomb used in Gandhi’s assassination. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Gandhi was assassinated by the Sri Lankan separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the Indian government in response to an agreement with Sri Lanka to disarm the Tamil Tigers.
India later withdrew its troops from Sri Lanka after more than 1,200 Indian soldiers were killed by insurgents.
AG Perarivalan was arrested in 1991 and was 19 years old at the time of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. AG Perarivilin was initially sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.
The issue has been a bone of contention between the central and state governments since AG Pararivulan filed a mercy petition in 2015.
The Tamil Nadu governor had sent a mercy petition to the president but the apex court ruled that it had no constitutional status and used special powers to order the release of AG Pararivalan.
Six others involved in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination are still in jail and serving life sentences.
Rajiv Gandhi was elected the youngest Prime Minister of India after the assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi in 1984. He ruled for five years.