President of India, Ms Pratibha Patil, has commuted the death sentences of three prisoners lodged in the central prison here to life term.
The Presidential order followed after the prisoners C. Selvam, V. Radhakrishnan and A. Sheik Meeran, submitted mercy petitions a few years ago, appealing to the President to commute their death sentences, sources said.
A communication from the state government on this was received on Thursday by the central prison authorities. The matter was then conveyed to the three prisoners.
Sources stated that the trio should remain in prison for the whole life and hence there should be no remission of the term of imprisonment
The three were arrested and awarded death sentences for murdering Ayyavoo, a notorious gang leader in the court hall in front of a judicial magistrate at Nagercoil in December 1994.
Seven accused were convicted in this case in 1998 by the Nagercoil sessions court. Of them, Selvam Radhakrishnan and Sheikh Meeran were awarded death sentence while the remaining were awarded life sentence.
The death sentences were confirmed by the Madras high court in April 1999. On June 1999, the Supreme Court had dismissed the special leave petitions filed by the three convicts against the verdict.