Chennai, Sep 9:  The Tamil Nadu Cabinet on Sunday decided to recommend the release of all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to the governor under Article 161 of the Constitution. While briefing media after the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Senior AIADMK leader and state fisheries minister D. Jayakumar said the recommendation will be sent to the Tamil Nadu governor Governor Banwarilal Purohit immediately. The AIDMK Minister said the recommendation has been made under Article 161 of the Constitution and the Governor has no other choice but to accept the recommendation.

The other recommendations of the state cabinet were, re-naming of Chennai central railway station as MG Ramachandran Central railway station and accord a 'Bharat Ratna' to former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa.

The meeting on Sunday was scheduled after the Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to approach the Governor to consider the mercy petition of AG Perarivalan, a convict in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and others. Earlier on September 6, a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Naveen Sinha and K.M. Joseph disposed of the Centre’s petition on a proposal for the release of the convicts in the case filed by the Tamil Nadu government.

To recall, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in May 1991. According to a report by ANI, on August 10, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that it does not concur with the Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, namely Nalini, Perarivalan, Murugan, Santhan, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 09, 2018 06:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).