Chennai, Sep.9 (ANI): Nearly 1000 Congress activists alongwith kin of those who died during the assassination of late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sat on a day long hunger strike here on Friday and demanded that Gandhi's assassins should be hanged.
Speaking to mediapersons, former Textiles Minister E V K S Elangovan, said the activists were on a day long hunger strike to protest against the Tamil Nadu State Assembly's resolution, which asked for mercy for the assassins of the former prime minister.
"Here (in Chennai), the fasting is being held by the persons families, who along with Rajiv Gandhi (Former Prime minister) got killed to insist that the three established terrorists got to be hanged and they should not be shown any sympathy and in support of that we the congressmen, we are all here in support of..(sic), we are also fasting and we are also insisting that all the three persons convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case got to be hanged," said Elangovan.
He said the party members have requested the state chief, Jayalalithaa Jayaram to reconsider the resolution that was passed in the legislative assembly of the state legislature) of Tamil Nadu.
"It's a very wrong move by her (Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the State chief). I request on behalf of the peace loving people in Tamil Nadu, please you (Jayalalithaa Jayaram) pass another resolution canceling the previous one and make sure and you must insist that the three persons got to be hanged without any delay," he said.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly passed a resolution unanimously, in which they had asked the president to reconsider the mercy petitions of the three facing death row for their role in the assassination of former late, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"Suppose these people get freed, again most of the leaders will be murdered by these terrorist people. Not only these terrorists, those whoever are supporting the terrorists, those whoever arguing for them must also be hanged. Again and again I would like to tell you (mediapersons), not only the three people, those people who are supporting these people must be hanged," said Bhuvanendran.
It may be recalled that on August 20, the Madras High Court provided an interim relief of eight weeks to the trio, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, (convicted in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case), who are presently in the gallows of Vellore Central Jail.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a woman suicide bomber, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai on May 21, 1991.
Among the 26 accused tried by a special designated trial court, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan and Nalini were sentenced to death in 1998.
Later in 2000, the death sentence awarded to Nalini was commuted to life imprisonment following a clemency appeal before the President of India.
However, the death sentence for the three, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan was confirmed since the President turned down their clemency pleas.(ANI)
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