The Supreme Court today ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, one of the life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Perarivalan alias Arivu was 19-years-old when he was arrested on 11 June, 1991.
Earlier, a Bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao gave the Centre a choice between allowing Perarivalan, who has served over 30 years of his life sentence, to be released or argue the case and eventually get a judgment on merits. The Centre had chosen the latter. Perarivalan, alias Arivu, is the son of Tamil poet Kuyildasan.
Nineteen years old at the time of the assassination, Perarivalan was accused of buying the two 9-volt batteries for Sivarasan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) man who masterminded the assassination. The batteries were used in the bomb to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.