Rajiv murder: Court commutes execution of plotters
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
India's Supreme Court has commuted the death sentences of three men convicted of plotting the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Chief Justice P Sathasivam spared the men, citing delays in deciding their mercy plea. Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan were members of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were defeated by Sri Lanka in 2009. Gandhi's murder was seen as retaliation for his having sent Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987. In 2006, the Tigers expressed "regret" for the murder which had shocked India. On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, said the time taken by the government to decide the mercy pleas was the ground for commuting the death sentences, according to BBC.