P. Krishnaswamy, in The Sunday Oberver, 11 September 2011
The family of the victims killed along with the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi demanded that Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan should be hanged, the Indian Express reported. The latest demand came after the clemency plea for the three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case grew louder. The family of victims, joined by a large numbers of Indian Congress workers, sat on a day-long fast opposing the clemency for the three convicts. Former Union Minister EVKS Elangovan and other Congress leaders also participated in the fast.
Murugan
Seven underlings —Pics from Kaarthikeyen D.R. and R. Raju The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination. The Investigation, Slough: New Dawn Press Inc. 2004
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on August 30 had passed a “unanimous” resolution requesting the President to reconsider and commute the death sentence awarded to the three convicts. The Madras High Court, too, on the same day stayed the execution of the accused for eight weeks, which was earlier scheduled for Friday. The three are currently lodged in Vellore Jail, according to the Indian Express report.
Early days: Steel-helmeted, stern looking security men, with machine-guns at the ready, were guarding the Colombo High Court premises at Bullers Road (later named Bauddhaloka Mawatha), with some of them positioned even at distant rooftops, when the trial-at-bar inquiry on the “Neerveli Murder and Robbery’” came up for hearing before High Court Judge C.L.T. Moonamale from the first week of January 1983. Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) leaders Kuttimani, Thangavel alias Thangathurai, Sivasubramaniam Sellathurai alias Thevan, Sivapathan Master and Nadesuthasan were the accused in the case. That probably was the first case against terrorism and terrorists tried under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in a Sri Lankan Court. Senior police and army officers, finger-print experts and government analysts were summoned as prosecution witnesses during the Court proceedings. A tense situation emerged every time the heavily-guarded accused who were in detention under the PTA were brought to the Court and taken back in a prison bus. What also unfolded in the Court was that the accused, hailing from Velvettithurai, the birthplace of Velupillai Prabhakaran, were professional smugglers.
Sivarasan and Dhanu wait for the kill
The Gandhi family in mourning vigil
Subha (reserve suicide bomber) and Nalini pictured in crowd
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As a rule, living in Sri Lanka means encountering some of the friendliest people on earth. But since the civil war ended in 2009, it must be said, there is a startlingly consistent loathing for India, and a doubled such loathing for Tamils from India. This manifests all in the abstract, for the most part, but it is there nonetheless. Among other reasons, the Sinhalese are angry with India for funding and training the Tamil Tigers in their infancy, helping them become the monsters they became, and it is difficult to argue this point. The Tamils are angry with India for not intervening more decisively in the waning weeks of the war, to help stop the civilian carnage that occurred – and it is difficult to argue this point also. Continue reading 
