Rajiv's assassins to be hanged, Prez rejects clemency pleas

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) Three killers of former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi on death row will be hanged after their
clemency petitions were rejected by Indian President Pratibha
Patil.
The death sentences of the three men--Murugan, Santhan
and Perarivalan-- were confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2000.
The capital punishment of the fourth convict Nalini was
however commuted to life by the Apex Court.
A Rasthrapati Bhavan(Presidential Palace) spokesperson
said Thursday the clemency petitions of all the three
condemned prisoners were turned down by the President last
week. It is not yet known when the executions will be carried
out.
The three men and Nalini belonged to Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Elam (LTTE) and were convicted of assassination of
Gandhi in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.
The three men, charged with criminal conspiracy and
execution of the suicide attack plot, had filed mercy petition
before the President after confirmation of sentence by the
apex court.
The Home Ministry had sent its opinion on June 21, 2005
which was called back for review on February 23, 2011 and was
re-submitted to the President on March 8 this year.
Earlier, in May, the President had rejected mercy
petitions of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar of Punjab and Mahendra
Nath Das of Assam following the recommendations from the Union
Home Ministry.
Bhullar was sentenced to death by a trial court on
August 25, 2001, for plotting terror attacks on Punjab SSP
Sumedh Singh Saini in 1991 and the then Youth Congress
president M S Bitta in 1993. Das was found guilty of murdering
one Hara Kanta Das.