VELLORE: A G Perarivalan (alias) Arivu, 44-years-old, convicted for life in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, submitted a 47-page mercy petition to the Governor of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, pleading for his release under the provisions of Article 161 of the Constitution of India.
He also sought an opportunity to represent his case in person before the Council of Ministers and the Governor. According to a source in the prison administration, he had attached 11 supporting documents to his mercy plea and also cited his 74-year-old father Gnanasekaran, a retired teacher, as being in a vegetative state. In addition, Arivu included transcripts of video and audio recordings of retired CBI officer V Thiyagarajan and Justice V R Krishna Iyer.
Arivu handed over the petition to the Superintendent of the Vellore Central Prison for Men who will forward the petition to the Governor through appropriate channels, the source added.
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in a recent verdict, had stated that Article 72 (Presidential powers) and 161 (Governor powers) are unchallengeable. This meant that the governor was empowered to set Arivu free from prison if he saw a compelling reason to do so.
“Hence, we have drafted the mercy petition based on the subsequent developments of the case, such as the interview of former CBI officer Thiyagarajan, who stated that he did not take Perarivalan’s statement verbatim. Since the powers granted under Article 161 are similar and separate to that of the president’s power under Article 72, the government of Tamil Nadu can also invoke its remission powers in Perarivalan’s case,” said Arivu’s counsel S Prabhu.
Earlier, he, along with senior advocate ‘Tada’ Chandra Sekar and two other advocates had conferred with Arivu at the central prison for over 30 minutes.
Arivu, in the mercy plea requested to be provided with an opportunity to represent his case in person before the Council of Ministers and Governor. He also pleaded with the Governor to take into consideration, his health and that of his aged parents. Arivu’s counsel further said that Murugan, another convict in the case, has already sent his mercy plea to the Governor. He concluded that the five others would soon be sending their mercy pleas as well. “We hope the Tamil Nadu Government will soon release us,” he added. Arivu also said he had supreme confidence in Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, stating that she had taken bold decisions pertaining to their release.