Kollywood artistes seek release of Rajiv assassination case convicts

Chennai: Two key associations of Tamil cinema industry on Monday said they will seek Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s intervention for the release of seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Addressing a press conference here, a directors’ body and Nadigar Sangam said they will take out a rally before submitting a petition to Jayalalithaa. “We will place a request before the Chief Minister that she should use all powers (available to the state government) and allow those seven (convicts) in society,” Sangam president M. Nasser said.

Speaking on behalf of the Directors’ Union, R.K. Selvamani said the objective of awarding prison term to a person is to reform and claimed that the convicts — including Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan — had been jailed for 20 years. The film professionals said the rally day and venue would be finalised after getting the CM’s appointment to submit the memorandum.

Other professional bodies of Tamil cinema such as the Producers’ Council would also participate in the rally, they said. It may be recalled that some of the directors including Selvamani, Vikraman and Amir met the convicts in the high-security Vellore prison recently. They had then said the seven could be released by the TN government under Article 161 of the Constitution, which allows the state government to grant pardon and commute sentences in certain cases.