Received Execution Orders Seven Times: Rajiv Gandhi Case Convict

Chennai:

Nalini Sriharan, one of many six convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination who had been launched a day in the past following a Supreme Court docket order, on Sunday mentioned she had no function within the plot and was jailed due to her acquaintance together with her husband’s mates.

Requested if she regretted her function within the killing and that of others within the bombing, she maintained her innocence.

“I haven’t got any function in any respect, actually. I do know I am convicted. However to my coronary heart, and to my conscience… it is aware of what occurred,” Ms Sriharan informed NDTV in an interview.

She mentioned she was not concerned within the conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister, however was charged as a result of she was a part of the group that plotted it.

“They had been my husband’s mates. So, I obtained acquainted with them. I am a really reserved individual. I do not speak to them. I helped after they want it, like going to outlets or theatres or resorts or temples. I used to go together with them. That is it. Apart from that, I haven’t got any private contact, or I do not know their household, the place they belong,” she mentioned.

Earlier than her dying sentence was commuted in 2001, Ms Sriharan mentioned, she anticipated to be executed any time and ready seven occasions to be hanged.

“Seven occasions they put up black warrant (order for execution) they used to attend for me,” she mentioned.

However she recalled her assembly in jail with Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra fondly.

“She is a really sort individual. She was an angel. And she or he made me respect myself as a result of… we weren’t handled correctly in jail,” Ms Sriharan mentioned.

“We weren’t even allowed to take a seat in entrance of officers. We needed to stand and speak. However when she got here to fulfill me, she made me sit subsequent to her. It was a really completely different expertise for me,” she mentioned.

Ms Sriharan mentioned Ms Gandhi Vadra questioned her concerning the killing of her father after they met. She obtained emotional and cried as effectively.

“She requested me about her father’s killing. She obtained emotional for her father. She cried too,” she mentioned at a information convention.

Ms Sriharan additionally informed NDTV about reconnecting together with her daughter Harithra, a health care provider in London, who was born to her in 1992 in jail after which raised outdoors. In 2019, when she was married, Ms Srihararan was granted parole for a month to attend it.

“She has forgotten me completely. I used to be the one who gave start to her, however I obtained separated from her after two years of age. So, after giving her outdoors, she completely forgot who I’m. Now we try to get better what occurred,” she mentioned.

“It is a very troublesome scenario for me and her. We’re mature. We will perceive issues, however she’s very younger. She could not perceive what is going on. Which is why she is struggling like that. So, it is very troublesome for my daughter,” she added.

Ms Sriharan was sentenced to dying for her function within the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) throughout an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.

The sentence was lowered to a life time period on the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi’s spouse, Sonia Gandhi. Years later, the Supreme Court docket commuted the sentence of six extra convicts within the case.

The choice was welcomed by many in Tamil Nadu, the place their incarceration has been an emotive situation, given many consider that the seven locals convicted had been a part of the plot with out figuring out its extent.