“I came to hear from Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, death convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, that they are innocent. That was the only purpose of my visit to the Central Prison, Vellore”, said eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Saturday.
(Mr. Jethmalani is here to participate in a Shirdi Sai Baba Devotees Convention).
Mr. Jethmalani went inside the jail at 12.30 p.m. and came out at 12.40 p.m. He is arguing for the convicts in the Madras High Court on their petition praying for commutation of death sentence in the wake of the Presidential order declining their mercy pleas.
Talking to reporters after a brief meeting with the convicts, Mr. Jethmalani said that he came to the prison at the suggestion of his friend and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, Vaiko, who had engaged him for the case. “The credit should go to him. The convicts did not even know me before.”
He declined to disclose what transpired between him and the convicts. “From my experience, I judged what my clients have now told me. What my convictions are I cannot share.”
Kanimozhi issue
“I do know why they have kept her in jail,” he said when asked about the denial of bail to Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi.
Mr. Vaiko said that he was confident that the death sentence of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan would be annulled by the High Court.
The Madras High Court on August 30 stayed the execution of the death sentence (scheduled for September 9) by eight weeks and issued notice to the Centre and State government.
The convicts moved the High Court after they were informed by the jail authorities that they would be hanged on September 9.
When the petition came up for hearing on October 28, after hearing the argument of the Central government, the High Court adjourned further hearing to November 29.
