Rajiv Gandhi assassination: Robert Payas, one of the convicts, seeks euthanasia

Sri Lankan national Robert Payas, one of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has filed a petition with the Tamil Nadu government seeking either mercy killing or euthanasia as he has lost all hope of getting justice. The petition was filed through the Puzhal prison authorities.

In an emotional letter addressed to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Payas said that he should be killed on grounds of mercy and his body handed over to his family. He claimed that he had been held "not guilty" by Supreme Court Judge Justice Wadhwa in 1999, but still continues to serve his sentence in prison which has anguished him greatly.

"Justice D P Wadhwa found me innocent, but still I have gone through this 26-year imprisonment. I lost my hope, I realise that I will not be released. I request you to facilitate my mercy killing and send my body to my family," Payas, who was 20 years old when he was arrested in 1991, said in a letter to CM Palaniswami. He completed 26 years of his sentence on June 11 this year.

Payas blamed the central government — the previous UPA government and the current NDA government — for not releasing the seven convicts, including him, in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. He added that late Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's decision to release the convicts reflected the aspiration of Tamils across the world. 

"We do not know why our release has been put on hold," he said in the letter adding that the Centre has "decided that our lives must end in prison." He further added that the "silence of the governments (including Tamil Nadu) only tells us this (that their lives should end in jail)."

"I have come to the conclusion that there is no use living when there is no scope for release... also, for the past many years since none of my family members or relatives have visited me I do not think that there is any meaning in my life," Payas said. He added that the prison sentence has punished not only him, but also his family.

Payas added that seeking mercy killing or euthanasia has become a thought deeply rooted in him and never occurred to him in the past.