Denied Sanjay Dutt’s release details, Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict writes to info panel

The application is expected to come up for hearing in a year’s time.

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In his RTI application filed in March 2016, Perarivalan stated he has never been given a parole or furlough.

ON FEBRUARY 25, actor Sanjay Dutt walked out of Pune’s Yerwada Jail eight months short of the five-year jail sentence he had received for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. The following month, A G Perarivalan, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and lodged in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore Central Jail for nearly 25 years, sent an RTI query to Yerwada prison authorities and sought documents that allowed the actor’s release to know the grounds.

Rejected by the public information officer (PIO) of Yerwada, and subsequently another appeal also turned down, on the grounds that the RTI Act stalls third-party disclosure, Perarivalan, 45, has now written to State Information Commissioner, Pune, Ravindra Jadhav.

His application, received by the SIC’s office earlier this month, argues against the rejection of his applications, sources said. The PIO and the first appeal authority, he is learnt to have alleged in his application, had stonewalled his application to “protect the influence of powerful people who are behind the decision of (Dutt’s) premature release”. The application is expected to come up for hearing in a year’s time.

In his RTI application filed in March 2016, Perarivalan stated he has never been given a parole or furlough. Besides all documents, he had sought records of correspondence between the Maharashtra government or Yerwada Jail authorities and the Central government, which led to remission of Dutt’s sentence.

Parthasarathi Biswas

Partha Sarathi Biwas is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express with 10+ years of experience in reporting on Agriculture, Commodities and Developmental issues. He has been with The Indian Express since 2011 and earlier worked with DNA. Partha's report about Farmers Producer Companies (FPC) as well long pieces on various agricultural issues have been cited by various academic publications including those published by the Government of India. He is often invited as a visiting faculty to various schools of journalism to talk about development journalism and rural reporting. In his spare time Partha trains for marathons and has participated in multiple marathons and half marathons. ... Read More

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