Rajiv Gandhi's killer seeks mercy killing, petitions Tamil Nadu government

Robert Pious in his statement had claimed that he became part of the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi for revenge

Robert Pious, convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has petitioned the Tamil Nadu government seeking mercy killing. In a three-page petition, Pious has asked the government to euthanize him instead of letting him spend the rest of his life in prison.

"In 2014, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa had attempted to get us released but now I understand that the government would want me to spend the rest of my life in prison. This is not just affecting me but my family as well. I request you to allow mercy killing and euthanize me," Robert Pious said in his letter. He has sought mercy killing on earlier occasions.

As recently as February 2017, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar dismissed Tamil Nadu's petition to review the judgement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The plea was dismissed on the ground of delay in filing the petition and also on merit. In 2014 the Supreme Court had stayed the release of four other convicts including Pious stating that there were procedural lapses on part of the state government.

Pious, a Sri Lankan Tamil arrived in India with his wife and others as part of a batch of LTTE commandos in September 1990 according to investigators. In his statement to the police, he had confessed that his child had died due to atrocities perpetrated by the IPKF sent to Sri Lanka by the Rajiv Gandhi government and that he wanted to seek revenge. Pious is also said to have allegedly confessed to being part of the key planners for the assassination and was convicted for his role in the conspiracy.

OneIndia News