Rajiv Gandhi murder convict seeks mercy killing

News Network
June 22, 2017

Chennai, Jun 22: Robert Payas, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who has been behind bars for more than 26 years, submitted a request for mercy killing to the prison authorities on Wednesday. Payas was sentenced to life imprisonment but although the state government decided to release all seven convicts in the case, the remission process was blocked by the Supreme Court.rajiv

Payas, who is detained in Chennai's Puzhal prison, submitted a letter to the superintendent of prisons of the convict ward, seeking permission to end his life. The SP, prisons, has informed senior officials about the letter.

A senior police officer said, "We cannot take any decision based on his letter. We have forwarded it to the state home department through the DGP's office. The matter pertains to the central government and the review case is still pending before the Supreme Court."

Payas, a Sri Lankan Tamil, claimed to have joined the assassination plot as his child had died due to alleged atrocities by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) which was sent to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. The investigators included his name as one of the key planners in the assassination conspiracy and he was awarded a life sentence.

The Tamil Nadu government had decided to release seven people who were convicted for their role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.

Three of them - Santhan alias T Suthenthiraraja, close associate of the prime suspect T Sivarasan and an intelligence wing member of the LTTE, Nalini, who performed recce operations to assess the security arrangements for the then Prime Minister V P Singh's rally, and her husband Murugan - were on death row and had their sentences commuted to life terms by the apex court.

The others - Payas, A G Perarivalan, Jayakumar and Ravichandran - are serving life sentences. The Supreme Court stayed the state government's order, saying that the state could not release them without the Centre's consent. The state government has appealed to the Supreme Court to review the order and the matter is still pending before the court.

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News Network
March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: The total number of positive coronavirus cases in India have climbed to 606, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
The total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country so far stands at 553, while the number of people who have been cured or discharged stands at 42.
Ten people have died from the disease while one case has migrated, the Ministry further informed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.
In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi said that it is vital to break the chain of the disease and experts have said that at least 21 days are needed for it.

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News Network
April 6,2020

New Delhi, Apr 6: With an increase of 490 cases in the last 12 hours, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India climbed to 4067, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

As many as 109 deaths have been reported across the country due to the deadly disease.
There are 3666 active cases in the country while 292 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases so far, standing at 690, followed by Tamil Nadu and Delhi with 571 and 503 cases respectively. 

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News Network
April 8,2020

New Delhi, Apr 8: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 149 and the number of cases to 5,194 in the country on Wednesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases is 4,643, as many as 401 people were cured and discharged and one had migrated, it said.

The total number of cases include 70 foreign nationals.

According to the ministry's data updated at 9 a.m., 25 new deaths have been reported since Tuesday.

Sixteen deaths were reported from Maharashtra, two each from Delhi, West Bengal, Haryana and Tamil Nadu and one from Andhra Pradesh.

Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 64, followed by Gujarat  and Madhya Pradesh at 13 each and Delhi at 9.

Telengana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have reported seven fatalities each.

West Bengal has registered five deaths, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have reported four each, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

Two deaths each have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.

Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Tuesday 9.45 p.m. showed 5,192 testing positive across the country and at least 162 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the numbers announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1018, followed by Tamil Nadu at 690 and Delhi with 576 cases.

Telengana has reported 364 COVID-19 cases followed by Kerala at 336.

Rajasthan has 328 cases, Uttar Pradesh has 326 and Andhra Pradesh reported 305 coronavirus cases.

Novel coronavirus cases have risen to 229 in Madhya Pradesh, 175 in Karnataka and 165 in Gujarat.

Haryana has 147 cases, Jammu and Kashmir has 116, West Bengal has 99 and Punjab has 91 positive patients so far. Odisha has reported 42 coronavirus cases.

Thirty- eight people were infected with the virus in Bihar while Uttarakhand has 31 patients and Assam 27.

Chandigarh  and Himachal Pradesh have 18 cases each while Ladakh has 14 positive patients so far.

Ten cases each have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chhattisgarh. 

Goa has reported seven COVID-19 infections, followed by Puducherry at five cases. Jharkhand has reported four cases and Manipur two. 

Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case each.

"State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation," the ministry said on its website.

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