The present govt at the Centre, as well as the previous one, had strongly objected to the Jayalalithaa govt’s decision to release us: Robert Payas
After spending over 26 years behind bars for his role in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, one of the convicts Robert Payas has appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for mercy killing. He also requested that his body be handed over to his family as "there is no point in living after knowing very well that there was no chance of getting released from the prison".
In a handwritten letter to the CM, Payas, who is undergoing life imprisonment in the Pointing Puzhal prison in Chennai, said he completed 26 years in jail on June 11 this year.
Pointing to late CM J Jayalalithaa's decision in 2014 to release all the seven convicts in Rajiv murder case, he said the decision was welcomed by all, including all political parties, but "was put on hold for reasons not known".
"The present government at the Centre, as well as the previous one, had strongly objected to the state government's decision to release us. So the Centre has decided to end our lives in the prison itself. I have come to this conclusion based on the government's silence," said Payas, who is a Sri Lankan national.
The long years of imprisonment have not only affected him but also his entire family, he said, noting that the government's intention seems to be to keep him locked in the jail forever. "I don't see any point in living considering that no one from my family had come down to Tamil Nadu to visit me in the prison the past few years," he said.
He said he was saddened to undergo 26 years of imprisonment even after DP Wadhwa, one of the three judges in Supreme Court who heard the appeal against the TADA court judgment sentencing 26 persons to death, declared him as an innocent.
Payas was one among the 26 sentenced to death by a TADA court in the Rajiv case. However, the Supreme Court confirmed death penalty to Murugan, Nalini, Perarivalan and Santhan and commuted the sentence to life for Robert Payas, Jayakumar and Ravichandran and freed the 19 others. Tamil Nadu Governor accepted the state cabinet decision to commute the death sentence of Nalini following an appeal by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in April 2000. The death sentence of three others was also commuted to life by the Supreme Court on grounds of delay in disposing of their mercy pleas. However, TN government's attempt to release the seven convicts was opposed by the Centre.
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