Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A.G. Perarivalan moves Madras HC seeking passport issuance

A.G . Perarivalan. File | Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan

The Madras High Court has directed the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Chennai to consider a representation made by Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A.G. Perarivalan for the expeditious disposal of his passport application pending with the passport seva kendra (PSK) in Tambaram.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy issued the direction while disposing of a writ petition filed by the convict, seeking a direction to both the RPO and the PSK to consider a representation made by him on September 1, 2026, for taking a time-bound decision on his application for the issuance of an Indian passport.

The petitioner was listed as the 18^th accused in the case registered pursuant to the assassination of the former Prime Minister by a suicide bomber at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. The case against him was tried before a Special Court for Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987.

The trial court convicted him for offences under the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Passports Act, the Foreigners Act, as well as Indian Wireless Telegraph Act, and sentenced him to death. The conviction, as well as the death sentence, was confirmed by the Supreme Court on May 11, 1999.