Rajiv Gandhi assassination: ‘Steps taken for deportation of Sri Lankan convicts’

CHENNAI: The Centre has informed the Madras High Court that it has taken steps to deport all four Sri Lankans, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to Sri Lanka.

Foreigners Regional Registration Officer P V Arunshakthikumar, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs stated this in his counter affidavit filed on Thursday, in response to a petition filed by S Nalini, one of the seven convicts ordered to be released by the Supreme Court last year.

She had sought direction from the authorities to release her husband Sriharan alias Murugan from the Special Camp (Foreigners Detention Centre), Tiruchirapalli, to enable him to live with her in the city.

In her petition, Nalini said when she was arrested she was pregnant, and her daughter was born on December 19, 1992, while she was detained in the Chengalpattu sub-jail.

Her daughter was now married and living with her husband and child in London. Nalini submitted that her daughter is a citizen of the United Kingdom and that Murugan would like to settle with her there.

Moreover, he has to contact the Sri Lankan Embassy in connection with his passport. Since he was detained in the Special Camp, he was unable to move out. She made a representation dated May 20, 2023, to the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer here, requesting that her husband be released from the Special Camp to enable him to live with her in Chennai.

However, there was no response from the authorities, she added.

In his counter, the officer said since all four Sri Lankan nationals arrived in India illegally by boat and did not possess valid Sri Lankan travel documents/passports and as per the extant guidelines of the MHA circular, dated April 24, 2014, a movement restriction order was issued FRRO, Chennai, against them to lodge them in Trichy special camp till their deportation to their country.