Nalini Sriharan or Nalini Murugan, one of the six convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and India’s longest-serving female prisoner, was acquitted by the Supreme Court on Friday, November 11. Nalini was the only convict alive in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991 when Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a human bomb attack by the LTTE. As she comes out of jail on November 12 after 31 years, here’s a look at who Nalini is and what role she played in one of the country’s most controversial cases: Rajiv’s murder.
Who is this Nalini?
Nalini graduated in English Language and Literature from Ethiraj College and was working in a private company in Chennai. He is the eldest of three children born to nurse Padmavathy and police inspector Sankara Narayanan, who died in 2016. His childhood was not a happy one due to marital problems between his parents. During her youth her father left home to live separately.
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Neither Nalini nor her family have political connections like the other accused in the case. It was her brother Bhagyanathan’s friendship with some friends that brought Murugan alias Sriharan home to Nalini. Murugan was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Later he married Nalini.
What was Nalini’s role in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case?
On 21 May 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female LTTE suicide bomber while in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, to attend a pre-election rally. Identified as the suicide bomber, Thanu touched Rajiv Gandhi’s feet and bowed before detonating the bomb he wore inside his salwar kameez during the rally. Apart from Rajiv Gandhi, nearly 15 people were killed in the blast and many others were injured.
Nalini’s statement taken in TADA custody said that she gave shelter to the two Sri Lankan women who carried out the attack, Suba and Tanu. Nalini was accused of taking them to buy the clothes they were wearing on the day of the murder, knowing their plan in advance and accompanying them to Rajiv Gandhi’s election rally.
Nalini traveled to Sriperumbudur by bus along with Sivarasan, Subha, Tanu and photographer S Haribabu. Nalini, Subha and LTTE mastermind Sivarasan escaped after Tanu blew himself up, the charge sheet said. Haribabu was also a LTTE sympathizer and was hired to document the massacre. Haribabu’s camera showed Nalini’s involvement.
Both Nalini and Murugan, who were absconding for several days after the massacre, were arrested on June 15, 1991 at Saitappettai bus station in Chennai. While Nalini’s role in the conspiracy was a matter of debate even among Supreme Court judges, her close association with Rajiv’s killers put her at the center of the case. Nalini was pregnant when she was arrested.
However, journalist Ekalaivan, in Nalini’s autobiography Rajiv Assassination: Hidden Truths and Nalini and Priyanka’s Meeting, translated from Tamil to English, recounts the incident, “We would have walked 200 feet towards the road. A big explosion was heard. Leaders are usually greeted with firecrackers, but this has devastated the area. I turned around and saw a ball of fire and smoke between the sky and the ground. The place was full of excitement. People ran screaming. I believe many people were injured in the stampede. I still didn’t know what had happened. Soon Suba stopped. I shuddered with fear, and my throat went dry. I still didn’t know what had happened, but I was sure something had gone wrong. People were still running in panic,” he said.
What are the charges against Nalini?
In 1998, the trial court sentenced 26 criminals including Nalini and Murugan to death. While none of the main conspirators were caught alive, Nalini’s mother Padmavathi and brother Bhagyanathan were among those sentenced to death by a TADA court in 1998. They were acquitted by the Supreme Court in 1999; However, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Nalini, Murugan and five others.
Although she was convicted under Criminal Conspiracy and Murder (IPC Section 120B), Nalini claimed in her book that she had no knowledge of the assassination conspiracy. An excerpt from the book reads: “Just before the bombing I told him I was pregnant. He was so happy that he picked me up and started dancing. We even discussed baby names. Had we known this, and had we conspired to kill that great leader, would we have rejoiced over the child? Can we think about the future? Could my husband have gone to bed peacefully on May 21 after sending me alone to the public meeting?”
“Would any woman go to such a place if she knew her first pregnancy would be at risk? I was in my first trimester then. I know that even a small shock or a long journey can be dangerous for my pregnancy. My mother has 25 years of experience as a midwife. I would never have done anything to endanger my pregnancy,” said Nalini.
One of the main allegations leveled against Nalini was that her husband had brainwashed her. In response, he wrote in his book, “From the day we met, there was nothing personal between us. During the days we met in private our conversations were delivered as confessions. From May 7 to the afternoon of May 21, we did not meet even once every day, he wrote.
“Only once on May 18, we exchanged happiness about my pregnancy. How could he have brainwashed me? There is no evidence for that. I think this is enough to prove our innocence,” said Nalini.
1999 judgment of the Supreme Court
When the case was heard by a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court, it decided separately on the quantum of punishment for the culprits. While a majority of the 3-judge Supreme Bench upheld the death sentence for Nalini, Justice KT Thomas dissented.
Citing evidence, Justice KT Thomas observed that Nalini was a compliant participant and that “it was at Sriperumbudur that Tanu realized that he was going to kill Rajiv Gandhi”. But she could not have backed down because “she was trapped inside the tentacles of the conspiracy”, and “Sivarasan and Chandan had liquidated those who did not stand up for them,” Justice Thomas wrote.
However, the Tamil Nadu High Court and the Supreme Court accused Nalini of willing participation in the assassination plot.
In 2000, Nalini’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment at the intervention of Sonia Gandhi (Rajiv Gandhi’s wife and former Congress president). In 2014, the Supreme Court reduced the death sentence of 3 people to life imprisonment and in 2018, the Tamil Nadu government recommended the governor to release the convicts.
Prison life
Nalini, who spent almost three decades in jail, speaks in her book about the torture she endured while in custody and the torture she allegedly suffered while chained in a cell for weeks. She also talks about the torture she suffered at the hands of the police as a pregnant woman.
“I will never forget the gynecologist who refused to do so despite the pleas of some officers to take two lives including mine. To this day, I keep Gynecologist in my prayers,” wrote Nalini.
“My daughter was in jail with me for two years and I decided that her fate should not be like this and sent her with a friend’s mother. An officer threatened to force my daughter into sex work before she was even born. What did she do wrong? How can I let her stay in jail with me?” That was written in a part of the book.
In prison, Nalini completed her MCA degree, with a cosmetology course certificate and is a certified seamstress and yoga instructor.
In the last 29 years, Nalini has come out only twice. First in 2016, for 12 hours, to attend his father’s funeral, and second in July 2019, for 51 days to make arrangements for his daughter Harida’s wedding.
On November 27, 2019, Nalini wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Madras High Court Chief Justice Amareshwar Pratap Sahi and the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary’s office seeking euthanasia.
After his release, he said, “From the first day I was arrested, I tried to free myself. I faced many setbacks and thought of ending my life… But every time, I tried to take my efforts to a new level.” said Nalini.
Nalini meets Priyanka Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi visited Vellore Central Jail in 2008 to meet Nalini. Speaking about this, Nalini said it was unbelievable. “I had to touch her to convince me… She was like an angel… I was scared… She wanted to ask me about her father’s assassination. she cried. I told her everything I knew. After she went back, I was scared. I prayed and fasted for her safe return (to Delhi),” said Nalini.
Addressing her first press conference, Nalini responded to a question by saying that she had told Priyanka Gandhi what she knew about the matter. Asked if Priyanka was strong or “crying emotionally”, Nalini said, “Yes, she was very emotional”.
Future plans
Nalini said her first priority was to formally release her husband Murugan from the Special Refugee Prison Camp in Trichy and get a passport and visa to join their daughter, a green card holder living in the UK. Nalini wants to meet her daughter and stay there. “That is my first priority. My whole family is destroyed… I have to collect them piece by piece. We will approach the Sri Lankan embassy for an urgent passport and documents so that our daughter can take us to England,” said Nalini.
Calling the 2014 Supreme Court order that commuted the death sentences of the three convicts to life imprisonment a “significant chapter” in their “struggle for justice” and release, Nalini said the legal process was often incomplete at every stage. “After our arrest, it took seven years to complete the investigation. After the 2014 Supreme Court order, it took another eight years for our release… Before we were sentenced to death, we were all treated like death row inmates and kept in solitary confinement. I needed a doctor’s intervention to give me permission to walk when I was pregnant,” she recalls.
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