NEW DELHI, May 1: The Supreme Court today transferred the petitions of the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, from Madras High Court to itself.
A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhayay allowed the petitions filed by L K Venkat and others for transfer of the case to the Supreme Court.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil had rejected the mercy petitions of three assassins of the former prime minister who was blown off in a suicide attack in May 1991.
The petitioners had sought the transfer of the case on the grounds that similar mercy petitions were already pending before the apex court and therefore, it will be in the interest of justice to shift their pleas pending in the Madras High Court, to the Supreme Court.
The assassins, including Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, have challanged the decision of the President in the High Court stating that their mercy petitions were pending for the last over 11 years and hence their death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment.(UNI)
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