P R Ravichandran, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assasination case, has appealed to the Tamil Nadu Government to consider his application for his release. A native of Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district, 36-year-old Ravichandran is lodged in Vellore Central Prison for 16 years now.He resorted to hunger strike recently to have the Government consider his long pending plea without delay. Ravichandran, who was on fast for two days, gave it up after prison officials promised that the matter would be taken up with the higher officials and necessary steps would be taken.“As many as 472 convicts who were sentenced to life and completed 10 years of jail term were released in August last year. Similarly 27 prisoners who had completed 14 years in prison were ordered to be released in May this year. But I was not released merely on the ground that ours was a CBI-investigated case,” Ravichandran said, in his letter to the state Government a couple of weeks ago.Pointing out that one of the judges in the three-member Bench of the Apex Court (which delivered the order in the Rajiv Gandhi assasination case) had given a dissenting view on the sentence handed to him, Ravichandran said his appeal for release after 16 years in jail with good conduct should not be treated as unreasonable.Ravichandran, during the jail term, has done his MA in History and courses in computer and nutrition, and Tamil and English typewriting.Meanwhile, it is learnt that Ravichandran’s mother is likely to file a writ petition in the Madras High Court this week seeking for a directive to the state Government to transfer her son to Madurai Central Prison, which is nearer to his native place, till his release.In another development, another convict in the case, Nalini, has moved the Madras High Court challenging the Government’s refusal to release prisoners whose case were investigated by the CBI.The case is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday.Nalini’s contention was that classification, based on the agency which was investigating the case, for the purpose of release of prisoners was illegal and unconstitutional.
