Supreme Court extends Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivalan's parole by a week, directs Tamil Nadu govt to provide escort

A Justice L Nageswara Rao led bench of the Supreme Court, on Monday, extended the parole granted to AG Perarivalan, convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, by a week. .The top court also directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide escort to Perarivalan so that he can attend medical checks.The order was passed after Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan informed the bench that Madras High Court had earlier extended the parole from November 9 to November 23. .The bench of Justices Rao and Ajay Rastogi was hearing a case seeking remission of sentence of Perarivalan. The court has now slotted the case for final disposal on the next date of the hearing..Earlier, the apex court had, on November 3, said the MDMA investigation into the “larger conspiracy” behind Rajiv Gandhi assassination need not deter the Tamil Nadu Governor from deciding the plea for pardon of convicts like AG Perarivalan, who have been serving their sentence in jail for over two decades..Tamil Nadu Governor competent authority to decide on remission of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict, AG Perarivalan: CBI tells Supreme Court.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also told the Supreme Court last week that the Governor of Tamil Nadu is the competent authority to take call on the request for remission.In an affidavit filed on November 20, the central investigating agency maintained that the issue of remission of sentence is solely between the office of the Governor Banwarilal Purohit and the convict. It is for the Governor to decide whether or not to release Perarivalan, who is serving a life sentence, it added..The reply from the agency came after Perarivalan’s mother applied to the Tamil Nadu Governor for his release."It is for the His Excellency Governor of Tamil Nadu to take a call on the issue whether remission is to be granted or not and in so far as relief is concerned in the present matter CBI has no role," the response said..CBI also told the Supreme Court that Perarivalan is not needed for further investigation conducted by its Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) into the “larger conspiracy” behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991."Present petitioner is not the subject matter of the further investigation carried out by MDMA. The further investigation conducted by MDMA is only limited to the mandate provided to it by Jain Commission Report as mentioned in paragraph," the affidavit said..The Supreme Court had said in 2018 that it is upto the Governor to decide on Perarivalan's mercy plea.Perarivalan had applied to the Governor for pardon on December 30, 2015. Almost three years later, in September 2018, the Supreme Court asked the Governor to decide the pardon plea as he “deemed fit”..Three days later, on September 9, 2018 the Tamil Nadu Cabinet recommended to the Governor to remit Perarivalan’s sentence and release him forthwith but the Governor is yet take a call on the same.The Jain Commission of Inquiry into the assassination had, in 1998, recommended further probe into the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.Its mandate included monitoring/ tracking of absconding persons suspected of the crime, probe into the role of 21 Sri Lankan and Indian suspects identified by the commission, looking into the delay in the interception of messages, among other things.