Gandhi murder convict wins parole review

Published
0

Chief of India's Congress party Sonia Gandhi (2nd R) scatters rose petals at her husband Rajiv Gandhi's memorial on the 18th death anniversary of the former Prime Minister in New Delhi. Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a female suicide bomber during election campaigning on May 21, 1991. -Reuters Photo

MUMBAI A woman serving a life sentence in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has ended a hunger strike after winning a parole review, a report said Wednesday.

Nalini Sriharan began refusing food at a prison in southern Tamil Nadu state on Monday, claiming that she had been eligible for early release since 2005, AFP reported.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the prison authorities had persuaded her to stop the protest and that her plea for parole would be considered.

Sriharan and her husband, Murugan, were among four people sentenced to death in connection with the murder of Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally in 1991. Her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2000.

The Indian government has blamed the suicide bomb attack, which killed at least 14 people, including the bomber, on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sriharan was convicted for being part of the conspiracy to murder.

She filed a petition in the Madras High Court earlier this month, stating that she was required to serve only 14 years in prison and that she completed the term in mid-2005.

She also asked for a panel to be set up to review her case.

Sriharan, now in her 50s, has previously said that she now regrets Gandhi's assassination and has met the former premier's daughter, Priyanka, in jail.

Opinion

Editorial

Risks ahead
Updated 02 Oct, 2026

Risks ahead

To think that the government would rather push out an elected government than grant a single prisoner some facilities does not square up rationally.
Exit from Iraq
02 Oct, 2026

Exit from Iraq

AMERICAN and British troops have once again shipped out of Iraq. On Wednesday, the foreign forces left the Arab...
Lahore’s ozone warning
02 Oct, 2026

Lahore’s ozone warning

LAHORE has received another warning that its air pollution crisis cannot be treated as a problem that begins with...
Fixing bond markets
Updated 01 Oct, 2026

Fixing bond markets

Pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, retail investors, and eventually, foreign investors must become bigger participants in the market.
Call centre rackets
01 Oct, 2026

Call centre rackets

A NUMBER of recent raids conducted by the authorities in different cities point to the growing threat fraudulent ...
Homeward bound
01 Oct, 2026

Homeward bound

FIVE months after Somali pirates captured an oil tanker carrying a 19-member multinational crew, Somali maritime...