21.4.2008
Murugan
for the second time in a row has refused to meet his wife
Nalini on Saturday afternoon at the Vellore Central Prison.
Earlier as exclusively reported in the Asian Tribune,
Murugan refused to meet his wife on 05 April, after their
disagreement over Nalini meeting Priyanka Vadra on 19
March in the Vellore Central Prisons. It is reliably learnt
that Murugan who was to meet Nalini again on 19 April,
has failed to turn up. Reports revealed that he is still
not reconciled over his wife meeting with Priyanka, the
daughter of Rajiv Gandhi.
Asian
Tribune reported that Murugan argued with his wife over
the meeting with Nalini on 22 March. Normally the meeting
lasts for 45 minutes, but Murugan cut it short and walked
out. Subsequently, on two different occasions both unsuccessfully
attempted to commit suicide - Nalini on 13 April and Murugan
on 17 April, but the prison authorities scoffed the reports
simply as "rumors."
But
now it is reliably learnt that Murugan who was to meet
Nalini again on 19 April, has failed to turn up. Reports
revealed that he is still not reconciled over his wife
meeting with Priyanka, the daughter of Rajiv Gandhi.
Why
was Murugan upset? Some say it has to do with a book he
is reportedly writing about the assassination. It is said
that this book may contain details which would make certain
VIPs uncomfortable, and that Priyanka’s visit was
actually connected to the book.
Priyanka
after the meeting said in a statement that “Meeting
with Nalini was my way of coming to peace with the violence
and loss that I have experienced”. Priyanka also
claimed that it was “a purely personal visit”.
It
was after Nalini had given birth to her daughter Megara
that Sonia Gandhi, Congress president and Rajiv’s
widow, had pleaded on her behalf and got her sentence
commuted from death to life imprisonment in 2000.
Murugan
and Nalini usually meet every fortnight, on a Saturday
afternoon. Things, however, haven’t been the same
ever since Rajiv’s daughter Priyanka Vadra met Nalini
at the special prison for women on March 19.
It
was reported that Murugan was disappointed after meeting
his wife on March 22, three days after the Priyanka meeting
Nalini.
Nalini,
the ninth accused in the case and the only living person,
who had accompanied the squad, which had assassinated
former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the night of May
21, 1991, had been sentenced to death.
Nalini's
senior counsel S Duraisamy, who did not want the meeting
between the two to go unrecorded, had deputed his junior
to file an application under Right to Information and
sought details of the meeting.
Mr.
Duraisamy, who had appeared for Nalini in the case, during
the pre-trial procedure, said Ms Priyanka Vadra's meeting
with Nalini has strengthened the repeated pleas of the
defence to reinvestigate the 17-year-old case.
He
claimed that Ms Priyanka Vadra's chose to meet Nalini
as she doubted the very involvement of the LTTE in her
father's assassination. The CBI had miserably failed in
identifying the "persons," who had helped the
conspirators, he contended.
Meanwhile,
taking advantage of Ms Priyanka Vadra's meeting, there
were moves to file a petition in the Madras High Court,
seeking the release of Nalini.
Nalini's
family sources said she did not plead Ms Priyanka Vadra
for clemency for her husband Murugan, who had been sentenced
to death. His mercy petition is pending before the President.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune