Rajiv Gandhi killer Nalini attempts suicide in prison

Nalini Sriharan, convict in the assassination case of late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, attempted suicide on Monday night, said her lawyer. Nalini has been lodged in prison for the past 29 years.

Nalini is lodged at the Vellore women’s prison and has been in jail for last 29 years. She has now allegedly attempted suicide, according to her lawyer Pugalenthi.

Pugalenthi in an exclusive conversation with India Today TV said that this is the first time in the last 29 years that Nalini Sriharan has tried to take such an extreme step.

Elaborating on the incident, Pugalenthi said that there was allegedly a quarrel between Nalini and another life convict. The other inmate escalated the issue to the jailer and following that Nalini attempted suicide, said the lawyer.

Pugalenthi insisted that Nalini has never done anything of this sort earlier and hence “we want to know the real reason”.

Pugalenthi further said that Nalini’s husband Murugan, who is also in prison for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, through a prison call to the lawyer has requested that Nalini be shifted from the Vellore prison to the Puzhal prison. The lawyer added that a legal request for the same will be made soon.

Seven people, including Nalini and her husband, were convicted by a special TADA court for their role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 by an LTTE suicide bomber during an election rally at nearby Sriperumbudur.

They were sentenced to death, but later it was commuted to life imprisonment.

Besides Nalini, the other life convicts are her husband Murugan, AG Perarivalan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran and Robert Pyas.