Perarivalan, Santhan and Murugan will be hanged on September 9 in execution of the death sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, according to officials at the Vellore central prison, where they have been lodged for the last two decades.
The officers served execution notices on the three men on Friday after receiving the relevant orders from the state government acting on the decision of President Pratibha Patil to reject their mercy petitions.
Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani is reaching Chennai on Monday and will be moving a petition in the Madras high court seeking stay of the hanging of the three men and also for the setting aside of their death sentences. “We are confident of winning their freedom”, said advocate N. Chandrasekaran, who is coordinating the legal efforts.
Prison superintendent R. Arivudai Nambe said the three men appeared disturbed when he handed over their execution notices.
“We have informed the three men that they will be hanged in the early hours of September 9. We received the communication in this regard from our superiors in the afternoon”, he told DC, adding that the three men would be confined to their cells till the execution day and will be permitted to meet families.
“We have been expecting this death notice for the last 20 years. My heart is bleeding for my son. But I will not give up trying to save him. We are trying to meet chief minister Jayalalithaa to appeal”, Perarivalan’s mother Arputhammal told reporters at Chennai airport on arrival from Delhi on Friday evening.