The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered expeditious trial in a criminal case booked against former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict Murugan alias V. Sriharan for having allegedly stood naked before the prison officials and showing obscene gestures when they seized a packet of Vallarai, Tulsi and other dry leaves from his cell in the Vellore Central Prison on December 9, 2020.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar passed the order while dealing with a petition filed by the convict, through his counsel S. Doraisamy and V. Elangovan, to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered at Bagayam police station in Vellore. Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak said, the investigation in the case had been completed and a charge sheet too had been filed before the Magistrate concerned.
Therefore, the judge closed the FIR quash petition with a direction to expedite the trial. In his complaint to the police, the jailor J. Mohankumar had said, a guard on duty in the high security zone of the prison had seen a convict named D. Gabriel pass on some packet to Sriharan on December 9, 2020. Immediately, a team of prison guards including a woman went along with a video camera to search his cell.
Then, Sriharan refused to stand up and cooperate with the probe. When he was forced to get up, the packet containing the leaves was found on the floor where he was sitting and he claimed to be using them for worship. He also stripped himself naked in front of the guards, including the woman staff, and made obscene gestures towards the video camera. The jailor also accused the convict of using filthy language.
The complaint further stated the convict threw his clothes, water can, bedspread, broomstick and soap at the prison guards and prevented them from performing their duties. Hence, the FIR was registered under Sections 294b (using obscene words), 353 (using criminal force to deter a public servant from performing his/her duty) of Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998.
However, in his quash petition, the convict denied all allegations levelled against him and said, he was a Sri Lankan Tamil who came to Tamil Nadu in 1990 to pursue higher studies. After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, he was implicated as an accused and arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on July 14, 1991. “I am an innocent of the alleged murder of Rajiv Gandhi. I was roped into the case by virtue of Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code only,” he claimed.
Further, alleging that a false confession was recorded from him under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act of 1987, he said, a special court had convicted and sentenced him to death along with 25 others on January 28, 1998. The death sentence against him was confirmed by the Supreme Court too on May 11, 1999. After a prolonged fight, the same court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment on February 18, 2014, he said.
Pointing out that a 2018 State Cabinet recommendation, to release all the surviving convicts in the assassination case, was now pending with the President, he listed out the number of degrees, diplomas and certificate courses that he had pursued during last 31 years of incarceration. “During my jail life, many of the officials are friendly with me except a few who are unhappy with me for no reason,” he said.
