Rajiv convict case: SC seeks CBI reply
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from CBI on a plea filed by a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, A G Perarivalan, seeking recall of its order upholding his conviction in 1999 in the light of revelations by a former CBI official that he left out some statements while recording his confession.
V Thiagarajan, a 1981-batch IPS officer, had recorded the confessional statement of Perarivalan in 1991 in which the accused had admitted that he had purchased two batteries and handed them over to Sivarasan, which were later used to detonate the human bomb to kill the former Prime Minister. Perarivalan also stated that he was not aware of the purpose for which the batteries were bought and did not know about the assassination plot. But Thiagarajan later admitted that he did not record this part of the statement as the probe was still going on at that time.
‘Perarivalan in jail for 26 yrs for just buying batteries’
The officer in his affidavit told the the court that the convict did not know about the plan to kill the former Prime Minister and his version of being not aware about the plot was not recorded in his confessional statement which was heavily relied on by the courts to convict him.
The officer’s affidavit said Perarivalan’s particular statement was “omitted” from his confessional statements. “It is humbly stated that accused Perarivalan’s statement that he was totally in the dark as to the purpose for which the batteries were purchased was not recorded by me, because it would be an exculpatory statement and hence the whole purpose of recording the confessional statement would be lost. Further, I did not deem it fit to record this exculpatory statement because the investigation regarding the bomb was pending at the time of recording the confessional statement,” he said in his affidavit. The officer’s statements is contradictory to the SC verdict which had in 1998 said that “we therefore reach the conclusion that A-18 (Arivu) was actively involved in the criminal conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi”. Agreeing to hear Perarivalan’s plea to re-examine the case, a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi asked CBI to file its response on his petition within three weeks and posted the next hearing for February 21.
Perarivalan’s counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan told the bench that his client was languishing in solitary confinement for the last 26 years for just procuring the batteries and CBI has not so far been able to interrogate the real culprit who had made the bomb.
Perarivalan was around 20 years old when he was arrested. He was granted parole in August last year for the first time since his arrest in mid-1991.
The officer, who retired in 2012 as DGP (training) in Odisha, had justified his decision to come out 26 years after he recorded the confessional statement saying, “The accused continues to languish in jail even after a long and egregious lapse of 26 years with the prospect of getting the legitimate and long over-due remission of his remaining portion of sentence becoming more and more distant and precarious, I now feel obliged, in good conscience to make this affidavit as the officer who recorded the confessional statement which has been heavily relied upon by SC and TADA court so that this could be helpful in meeting the ends of justice.”
AT RECEIVING END: Perarivalan was around 20 years old when he was arrested. He was granted parole in August last year for the first time since his arrest in mid-1991
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from CBI on a plea filed by a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, A G Perarivalan, seeking recall of its order upholding his conviction in 1999 in the light of revelations by a former CBI official that he left out some statements while recording his confession.
V Thiagarajan, a 1981-batch IPS officer, had recorded the confessional statement of Perarivalan in 1991 in which the accused had admitted that he had purchased two batteries and handed them over to Sivarasan, which were later used to detonate the human bomb to kill the former Prime Minister. Perarivalan also stated that he was not aware of the purpose for which the batteries were bought and did not know about the assassination plot. But Thiagarajan later admitted that he did not record this part of the statement as the probe was still going on at that time.
‘Perarivalan in jail for 26 yrs for just buying batteries’
The officer in his affidavit told the the court that the convict did not know about the plan to kill the former Prime Minister and his version of being not aware about the plot was not recorded in his confessional statement which was heavily relied on by the courts to convict him.
The officer’s affidavit said Perarivalan’s particular statement was “omitted” from his confessional statements. “It is humbly stated that accused Perarivalan’s statement that he was totally in the dark as to the purpose for which the batteries were purchased was not recorded by me, because it would be an exculpatory statement and hence the whole purpose of recording the confessional statement would be lost. Further, I did not deem it fit to record this exculpatory statement because the investigation regarding the bomb was pending at the time of recording the confessional statement,” he said in his affidavit. The officer’s statements is contradictory to the SC verdict which had in 1998 said that “we therefore reach the conclusion that A-18 (Arivu) was actively involved in the criminal conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi”. Agreeing to hear Perarivalan’s plea to re-examine the case, a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi asked CBI to file its response on his petition within three weeks and posted the next hearing for February 21.
Perarivalan’s counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan told the bench that his client was languishing in solitary confinement for the last 26 years for just procuring the batteries and CBI has not so far been able to interrogate the real culprit who had made the bomb.
Perarivalan was around 20 years old when he was arrested. He was granted parole in August last year for the first time since his arrest in mid-1991.
The officer, who retired in 2012 as DGP (training) in Odisha, had justified his decision to come out 26 years after he recorded the confessional statement saying, “The accused continues to languish in jail even after a long and egregious lapse of 26 years with the prospect of getting the legitimate and long over-due remission of his remaining portion of sentence becoming more and more distant and precarious, I now feel obliged, in good conscience to make this affidavit as the officer who recorded the confessional statement which has been heavily relied upon by SC and TADA court so that this could be helpful in meeting the ends of justice.”
AT RECEIVING END: Perarivalan was around 20 years old when he was arrested. He was granted parole in August last year for the first time since his arrest in mid-1991
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