Madras High Court directs State to facilitate sending mortal remains of Rajiv Gandhi case convict Santhan to Sri Lanka

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to make necessary arrangements to send the mortal remains of Santhan alias T Suthenthiraraja, one of the freed convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to his home country of Sri Lanka..Santhan died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on February 28 this year, following a cardiac arrest..A Division Bench of Justices R Sureshkumar and K Kumaresh Babu asked the State to appoint a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer as “nodal officers in-charge”.This, after Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan and State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah informed the Court that Santhan’s mortal remains can be sent only if the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai grants necessary permissions.The Court accordingly directed the State government to get the nodal officers to communicate with the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission for the necessary permissions..The Court also directed the State government to file a compliance report by March 4 this year..The order was passed on a petition that Santhan had originally filed last year through his counsel M Radhakrishnan and P Pugalendhi, seeking permission to go to Sri Lanka.Santhan, a Sri Lankan national, was released in November 2022 following an order of the Supreme Court. He has stayed on in a detention camp in Tamil Nadu since he did not have a valid passport and requisite travel documents to go back home.On February 14 this year, the Tamil Nadu government had told the Court that the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission had written a letter on February 2 this year, saying that it had issued the requisite travel documents in favour of Santhan. The travel documents, the State had said, were valid till August 1 this year..The State had also told the Court that it had forwarded such letter to the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) in Chennai on February 9.The Court had then granted time till February 29 to the FRRO, represented by ASG Sundaresan, to take instructions on when an exit permit can be issued for Santhan so that he could be sent back to Sri Lanka.