Former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president EVKS Elangovan has wondered why the Centre was delaying the release from prison of Perarivalan, one of the seven main accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in May, 1991, if he is not found guilty.

Perarivalan and six others have been languishing in prison for the past 26 years and both the Congress and the BJP, the former and incumbent ruling parties at the Centre, have been similar in their opposition to any concession or releasing Perarivalan. A controversy has, however, erupted whether the ‘belt bomb’ by the suicide bomber Thanu (which killed Rajiv) was operated by the batteries supplied by Perarivalan.

A case has also been filed with the High Court of Madras in this regard.  Speaking to newsmen in Chennai yesterday, Elangovan said that he didn’t find anything ‘wrong’ in releasing Perarivalan from prison if he is found to have been not guilty in supplying batter to the ‘human bomb’ which ultimately killed Rajiv Gandhi.

On another note, he said that it wasn’t acceptable that Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was protecting Coast Guard personnel though it was apparent that they opened unprovoked firing at Tamil fishermen early last week.