The Supreme Court of India has opined that it is not possible to release Perarivalan, one of the eight main accused in the gruesome 1991 assassination of former prime-minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbur off Chennai, despite him having served more than 26 years in prison.

Earlier, counsel for CBI expressed his strong reservations against entertaining Perarivalan’s petition seeking his release. Perarivalan, who was recently out of prison on a 2-month long parole, had filed a petition with the Supreme Court requesting for his release on health grounds. The petition was taken up yesterday for interrogation by the apex Court.

CBI’s counsel made it clear to the Court that it wasn’t in favour of releasing Perarivalan. The apex Court referred to the investigation officer’s earlier statement that there were some irregularities in recording Perarivalan’s testimony and asked if the case deserved re-interrogation.

The Court directed the Centre to respond to its query and postponed the next hearing in the case to 24th January.