V Sriharan, also known as Murugan, a significant convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, released in 2022, has approached India’s Madras High Court seeking approval to attend a visa interview for travel to the United Kingdom and to visit the Sri Lanka consulate in Chennai for processing his travel documents.
The division bench comprising Justice M S Ramesh and Justice Sunder Mohan, before which the petition filed by S Nalini on behalf of her husband Sriharan was heard on Thursday, informed her counsel that the bench could not proceed as Justice Sunder Mohan had previously appeared for the CBI in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The case will be referred to the chief justice for reassignment to another bench.
In the petition, Nalini highlighted Sriharan’s educational achievements since his conviction, including completing 24 post-graduate, diploma, and certificate courses, scoring 87% in MCA. Nalini recounted the history of the assassination trial, conviction, and their release in 2022 after spending 32 years in jail.
Nalini revealed that she and Sriharan applied for a UK visa to reunite with their daughter, who completed her medical physics degree and has been working since 2019. However, Sriharan faced travel restrictions imposed by state government authorities, preventing him from attending the visa interview and visiting the Sri Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai for an all-country passport.
Nalini argued that refusal to allow Sriharan to visit the deputy high commission amounts to illegal detention. She cited the case of another released co-convict, Robert Payas, whose visit to the deputy high commission was permitted.
Nalini requested the court to direct authorities to enable Sriharan to visit the Sri Lankan deputy commission in Chennai, obtain an all-country passport, and attend the UK visa interview, emphasizing their desire to live peacefully with their daughter in the UK.
Since his release in 2022, Sriharan has been residing in a special campus on the Trichy central prison grounds, along with three other released co-convicts. One of them, Santhan, expressed a desire to return to Sri Lanka but passed away on Feb 28 after falling ill.
Source: Times of India
