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The Supreme Court in New Delhi |
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INDIA: RAJIV GANDHI ASSASSINS WILL NOT HANG, REITERATES SUPREME COURT
April 1, 2014: the Supreme Court reiterated that three men from Tamil Nadu convicted of killing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi will not hang.
The top court had commuted their death sentence On 18 February, because of an 11-year delay in deciding on their petitions of mercy. The Union Government had appealed against the decision to reduce their punishment to life imprisonment, but lost its case.
Mr Gandhi was killed while campaigning in an election in the town of Sriperumbudur in May 1991 by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Santhan, Murugan, Perarivalan were convicted of involvement in 1998 and sentenced to death by hanging. A fourth person, Nalini, was also given the death sentence but it was later commuted to a life term. Three others are serving life terms. (Sources: ndtv.com, 01/04/2014)
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