Chennai: The Central government on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit would decide on state government's recommendation for the remission of sentence of AG Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, in three to four days.
After Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao that Purohit has informed that decision will be taken soon on state government's recommendation, the hearing of the case was adjourned for four weeks.
During an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over the Tamil Nadu Governor for not taking any decision on the remission plea of Perarivalan for over two years.
The Bench had asked Tamil Nadu government to request Purohit to expedite his decision on the state's recommendations for the remission of sentence of the convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Earlier, the Supreme Court extended parole of AG Perarivalan by one week for his medical check-up.
On November 3, the Supreme Court expressed its dissatisfaction over the pendency of pardon-plea of a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case for over two years with the Tamil Nadu Governor.
The top court had asked Additional Advocate General for Tamil Nadu Balaji Srinivasan, why is the Governor taking so much time?
READ: Parole extended for Rajiv assassination plotter
The remarks from the bench were made during the hearing of a plea of 46-year-old Perarivalan, who has sought suspension of his life sentence in the case till the CBI-led Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) probe is completed.
Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumpudur in May 1991. The Bench was hearing a petition filed by Perarivalan seeking release from the prison based on the recommendation made by the Tamil Nadu government.
Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.
On February 18, 2014, the apex court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment on grounds of a delay of 11 years in deciding the mercy pleas by the Centre
With agency inputs
