Rajiv Gandhi killer Nalini Sriharan's 'A' class prison facilities restored

[1]

The Madras High Court on Thursday restored 'A' class facilities in terms of food, drinking water and a bed to Nalini Sriharan who is serving a life sentence at Vellore women's jail for her involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Vellore jail authorities withdrew the `A' class facilities for Nalini after they had seized a mobile phone from her prison room in 2010.

That year she was transferred to Puzhal jail here on request.

Nalini sought a transfer back to Vellore jail in 2011 with President Pratibha Patil rejecting the mercy petitions of three other convicts facing death -- her husband Sriharan alias Murugan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivu.

Nalini approached the court as she was not given `A' class facilities at Vellore jail. The court accepted her plea and restored the facilities.

Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister during 1984-89, was killed by a suicide bomber at an election rally near Chennai May 21, 1991. Fourteen other people also lost their lives in the blast.

Nalini was earlier given the death sentence. On the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and now Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.