Rajiv killing: SC to hear Centre's plea on Feb 27

New Delhi, Feb 24: The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday the Centre's plea seeking to restrain the Tamil Nadu government from releasing the conspirators in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam agreed to hear the plea after Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra told the court the Tamil Nadu government had no jurisdiction to release the conspirators.

The apex court had last week stayed the release of three key conspirators whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of inordinate delay in deciding their mercy petition.

After the Supreme Court commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment, Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha had announced that the accused must be released. Following this decision of the TN government there was celebration in many parts of the state.

IANS