DMK ally greets released Rajiv case convict with a shawl; calls them 'innocent'

Thirumavalavan justified his actions and said the 'real killers' had escaped the law

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thol. Thirumavalavan is at the centre of a raging row for calling “innocent” six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who were released by the Supreme Court on November 11, and greeting one of them with a shawl.

The row began after Thirumavalavan, Lok Sabha MP from Chidambaram and an ally of the ruling DMK, met R P Ravichandran, one of the six convicts in the sensational case, in Chennai on November 21. Ravichandran also met several politicians and activists who voiced support for the convicts who spent 31 years in prison.

Thirumavalavan not justified his action but also said the seven convicts, including A G Perarivalan who was released by the apex court in May 2022, were “innocent” and the “real killers” of the former prime minister escaped from the law.

“It was the Supreme Court that released all the seven people by invoking Article 142, a special power vested with it. And I don’t see anything wrong in meeting them. I also believe they are innocent,” Thirumavalavan said.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Working President Mohan Kumaramangalam took to Twitter to object to Thirumavalavan’s remarks. “So no one killed Rajiv Gandhi? You believe the courts were incorrect in convicting them of this dastardly crime? Studied the evidence, arguments and judgment? If you have, did you do the same for every multiple murder case in TN? Why not?” he asked Thirumavalavan.

It is not the first time that the VCK has come out in support of the convicts – last week, party spokesman and senior leader, Vanni Arasu, welcomed S Nalini with sweets after her release from Vellore Central Prison, photos of which went viral on social media much to the discomfiture of Congress, the second largest constituent of the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu.

Arasu was also seen sitting next to Nalini, who is accused of harbouring Dhanu the suicide bomber who triggered the belt bomb killing Rajiv Gandhi and 15 others, when she addressed a press conference in Chennai, a day after she walked free in the 31-year-old case.

In fact, Chief Minister M K Stalin came under severe criticism when he hugged Perarivalan after the latter was released from prison on May 18, 2022. Leaders from the Congress and BJP, who are opposed to their release, criticised Stalin seeking to know the message he wants to send by hugging him – the two parties maintain that the court hasn’t acquitted them but merely released them on various grounds, including good conduct during their jail term.

The issue of seven convicts is a highly emotive issue in Tamil Nadu with almost all political parties – barring Congress and BJP – endorsing the decision of the AIADMK government in 2018 to release them. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, before he was to address an election rally.

The seven convicts were sentenced to death along with 19 others in 1998 by a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court in Poonamallee. However, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence only for Nalini, Perarivalan, Santhan, and Murugan, but commuted the sentence to life in jail for Ravichandran, Robert Payas, and Jayakumar and released 19 others.