Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict Perarivalan granted parole after 26 years

AG Perarivalan, one of the seven life-term convicts in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi case was released on parole for 30 days on Thursday. This is the first time he has been granted parole since his arrest in 1991. His parole application cited his father's deteriorating health condition.

Additional Chief Secretary to Government, in a letter to the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Vellore, Niranjan Mardi, has instructed that he should be provided with a strong police escort during the period of leave.

Perarivalan was released from the Vellore prison on Thursday night with heavy police protection and taken to his residence at Tirupathur in Vellore district.

Arrested when he was 19-year-old, Perarivalan aka Arivu has spent over 26 years in prison.

After the denial of parole to him become a political issue, Law Minister CV Shanmugam told the Assembly last month that the government would soon take a decision on it after taking legal opinion.

Arivu's mother Arputham Ammal had filed several petitions with the Chief Minister's special cell, seeking the release of her son on parole to meet his bed-ridden father.

"I have been getting calls from various well-wishers about the government's decision to release in parole. Until he steps into our house, I will not believe it considering previous bad experiences," Ammal said after news of his son being released on parole first broke.