VELLORE: Murugan, one of the convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, fainted in Vellore Central Prison, after going on a hunger strike for the fifth consecutive day. According to Murugan’s lawyer P Pugalenthi, he had gone on a hunger strike after his parole plea for 30 days was rejected by the authorities.
Confirming the development to TNIE, Pugalenthi said he was denied parole, while others had got parole in the same case.
Murugan’s mother-in-law S Padma, on March 14, had filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court to grant parole to him. The case is pending in the HC as Justice PN Prakash recused himself from the case, citing his earlier stint as the public prosecutor in the Rajiv Gandhi assasination case and Justice Kalyana Sundaram retired soon after that.
“Murugan didn’t seek permission for a hunger strike and we’re not aware of that,” Additional Superintendent of Vellore Central Prison AS Abdul Rahman told TNIE. “Murugan didn’t submit any request for parole to us,” he added.
Sources said that trial in two more cases, which include Murugan using a cell phone inside the jail and him abusing the jail officials verbally, is ongoing and hence he was denied parole.
Murugan has been imprisoned in the Vellore prison for the last 32 years and has never been out on parole.
Meanwhile, AG Perarivalan, another convict in the same case, had been granted bail by the Supreme Court earlier this year.