Three ex-convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case returned to Sri Lanka on Wednesday, nearly two years after being freed by the Supreme Court.
The Sri Lankan citizens, V Murugan alias Srikaran, S Jeyakumar and B Robert Payas, had earlier served a three-decade prison term in connection with the killing of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The three left by a Sri Lankan carrier for Colombo on Wednesday, officials said.
The trio were met by the Colombo Police crime investigation department to record their statements as they returned to their homeland from Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu government last month informed the Madras High Court that the Sri Lankan High Commission here had granted travel documents to Murugan and the rest and they could return home once a deportation order is issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), according to a report in PTI.
V Murugan had earlier moved the court seeking a direction to authorities concerned to provide him a photo ID. The three persons were among the seven convicts in the case freed by the Supreme Court in November 2022.
Post their release, they were lodged in a special camp in Tiruchirappalli. They were brought in Chennai on Tuesday and left for Colombo on Wednesday.
Earlier, Murugan's wife Nalini had also moved the court, seeking a direction to the authorities to permit her husband to appear before the Sri Lankan High Commission in Chennai with an escort to get an 'all country passport'. The couple intended to join their daughter who is now residing in the UK.
Another Sri Lankan national Santhan, who was convicted in the case, died recently. The others who had been convicted and freed in the case are Perarivalan, Ravichandran and Nalini, all Indians.
Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber of the banned LTTE nearby Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. Seven persons were convicted in the case with four of them, including Nalini, given capital punishment. However, it was later commuted to life.
All seven had served over 30 years in prison before the Supreme Court ordered their premature release in November 2022.