CBI seeks dismissal of Perarivalan's plea for recall of 1999 verdict

New Delhi: The CBI on Monday told the Supreme Court that the plea by Rajiv Gandhi assassination conspiracy convict A.G. Perarivalan for recall of the 1999 judgment should be dismissed as it seeks to re-open the entire issue that has attained finality after a gap of 17 years and also because it was devoid of both merit and law.

The top court had upheld the conviction of Perarivalan and others on May 11, 1998 and their review plea was dismissed on October 8, 1999.

Perarivalan is one of the seven convicts undergoing life imprisonment for his role in the conspiracy leading to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was convicted for supplying two 9 Volts batteries that were used in the 1991 killing.

Perarivalan has sought the recall of the 1999 judgement after Superintendent of Police V. Thiyagarajan, who recorded his confessional statement under TADA, said in an affidavit that the investigating agency suppressed the part of Perarivalan's statement that he was not aware the conspiracy and the purpose for which two 9 Volts batteries supplied by him would be used.

"... The investigation on the role of the petitioner (Perarivalan) was scrutinised at various levels of judiciary, legislative and executive authority and no fault was noticed on the investigation," the CBI told the top court on Monday.

The agency also told the court that the response was being filed by the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency - looking into the larger conspiracy angle - as the Special Investigating Team that had probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination had ceased to exist.

The top court had on January 24 sought the CBI's response on a plea seeking the recall of its 1998 and 1999 judgement upholding the conviction of seven accused in the case.

The CBI argued that the application by Perarivalan was not maintainable and warrants "rejection on merits as well as law".

Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber at an election rally at Sriperumbudur near Chennai on May 21, 1991. The now vanquished Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka were blamed for the killing.