‘Rajiv killer’s daughter an Indian’

CHENNAI: Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins, Murugan and Nalini, may finally get to see their 14-year-old daughter Megara alias Arithra in India. The Madras High Court on Wednesday proclaimed her as an Indian citizen by birth and directed the Centre to issue an entry permit to her before deciding on the status of her citizenship.

Murugan, a Sri Lankan, and his Indian wife Nalini were convicted and sentenced to death in January 1998, but Nalini’s sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Murugan’s mercy petition is pending with the President.

On a petition by Nalini, a division bench comprising chief justice AP Shah and justice K Chandru said, “Under Section 9 (2) of the Citizenship Act, 1995, the appellant’s daughter, as a citizen of India, is entitled to enter the country.”

Megara was born in a hospital in Chengalpet in TN, when Nalini was in police custody, on January 21, 1992. She lived with her      in the Vellore central prison till the age of six, after which the rules forbade her stay in an Indian jail.