Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination accomplice gets parole
An Indian court yesterday granted a 30-day parole to a woman convicted three decades ago over her role in the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by militants. Gandhi and 14 others were killed in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu by a female suicide bomber belonging to Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Nalini Sriharan, an Indian national, was arrested soon after the bombing and found guilty -- together with her husband and 25 others -- of conspiracy and helping the teenage bomber, Thenmozhi Rajaratnam. Her death sentence was commuted on a clemency plea by Gandhi's widow in 2000. Three others are still awaiting execution. A court in Chennai yesterday suspended Sriharan's life imprisonment sentence for a month after she filed a plea for a six-month parole to make arrangements for her daughter's wedding. Gandhi -- prime minister between 1984 and 1989 -- was campaigning for mid-term national elections in 1991 when militants targeted him over his decision to send the Indian army to Sri Lanka.
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