CHENNAI: After Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa expressed her inability to intervene in the execution of the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, AIADMK ally DMDK on Monday said the Central government should reconsider their clemency petitions and cancel the death sentence awarded to them.
“The assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is a crime.
Key convicts in this case have died already. Since, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan have already spent 20 years in jail, the central government should reconsider their clemency petitions and save their lives,” DMDK president Vijaykant said in a statement.
The three convicts — Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan — are set to be hanged on September 9 after the President rejected their clemency petitions.
He also said many countries had already abolished capital punishment and the same demand has risen among Indians.
Hence the Central government should cancel the execution of the three convicts, he said.
DMDK is an ally of the ruling AIADMK government and is the opposition party in the State Assembly with 29 MLAs.
Meanwhile, PMK founder S Ramadoss criticised Jayalalithaa’s statement in the Assembly saying, “if she had a will, the lives of three persons can be saved”.
“While the whole state was waiting for the Chief Minister to save the three persons, Jayalalithaa has stepped aside from her responsibility saying she can’t interevene in the President’s decision,” Ramadoss said in a statement.(PTI)