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Judgment reserved in appeal by accused in Rajiv Gandhi murder case

The Supreme Court today reserved its judgment on the statutory appeal, filed by Nalini and 25 other accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, challenging the decision of a Madras special court to award them death sentence.

The judgment was reserved by a three-judge bench comprising Justices K T Thomas, D P Wadhawa and S S M Quadri on the conclusion of arguments from both sides spread over several weeks.

Senior counsel N Natarajan, appearing for the accused, submitted that all of them did not have the knowledge of the manner in which Gandhi was going to be assassinated.

LTTE chief V Prabhakaran, who was the main accused, was still out of India and the persons who were directly responsible for the assassination were all dead, he added.

He contended that the degree of complicity varied from one accused to another and hence the sentence should have been different depending on the degree of the complicity of each accused.

Additional solicitor general Altaf Ahmad, appearing for the CBI, the prosecuting agency, submitted that the brutal attack on the former prime minister deprived the nation of his stewardship and the special court judgment should not be interfered with.

Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a human bomb on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu where he had gone to address a rally during the Lok Sabha elections.

UNI

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