By IANS,
Chennai : The Tamil Nadu government Monday rejected the demand for the release of Nalini Hariharan, sentenced to life for the 1991
assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The government submitted its decision to the Madras High Court, citing the ruling of the Prison Advisory Board.
Congress party leaders had opposed the release of Nalini and others convicted for the killing of Gandhi at an election rally at Sriperumbudur near here.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had said the state government would consult the central government on Nalini’s plea that she should be released since she has spent nearly two decades in prison.
Nalini was awarded the death penalty for assisting the Tamil Tigers in Gandhi’s killing. Later, at the intervention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, this was commuted to life imprisonment.
In September last year, Nalini filed a petition in the Madras High Court asking the Tamil Nadu government to convene the advisory board to consider her case for release from jail.
In her petition, she said that she was entitled for release in 2005 itself as she had completed 14 years in jail.