Rajiv Gandhi case: Families of those killed want convicts to be hanged

CHENNAI: As the clemency plea for the three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case grew louder, family members of the victims killed along with the former Prime Minister today demanded that Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan should be hanged.

Joined by a large numbers of Congress workers, the family members sat on a day-long fast opposing the clemency for the three convicts.

Former Union Minister EVKS Elangovan and other Congress leaders also participated in the fast.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly on August 30 had passed an "unanimous" resolution requesting the President to reconsider and commute the death sentence awarded to the three convicts.

The Madras High Court, too, the same day stayed the execution of the accused for eight weeks, which was earlier scheduled for today.

The three are currently lodged in Vellore Jail. Rajiv Gandhi and 15 others were killed during an election rally at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, by an LTTE suicide bomber.