VELLORE:One of the convicts sentenced to life in connection with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and lodged in the Vellore Central Prison for Men for the last 17 years took a vow on June 1 to observe ‘mouna viratham’ (vow of silence) for 48 continuous days.
The 47-year-old Sriharan’s, (alias Murugan) advocate, P Pugalenthi, said that Murugan took the vow of ‘mouna viratham’ as “he is a spiritual person and performs pooja regularly. He is a devotee of Lord Muruga. During this 48-day-long vow to remain silent, he is communicating with others by writing messages. This mouna viratham is to help him find inner peace,” said Pugalenthi, after meeting him last Saturday.
Murugan’s mouna viratham was not broken even when he last met his wife, Nalini, currently lodged in the Special Prison for Women, Vellore, as part of their regular fortnightly meeting, communicating with her by writing messages on paper, Pugalenthi added.
Sources in the prison said that Murugan is sporting a beard and has been wearing a kavi dhoti for three months performing pooja at the prison-temple in the morning and evening. He and Suthendraraja (alias) Santhan, spend a lot of time in the temple.
“Santhan is an ardent devotee of Sai Baba,” the source said. Nalini, Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan among others were arrested for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
They were shifted to the Vellore Prison in 1998, after spending their initial years of incarceration in the Tada Court cum Prison, Poonamallee.