India’s top court is releasing the man convicted of killing its former Prime Minister

A. G. Perarivalan has been imprisoned for 31 years for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

The ex-Prime Minister took office following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi in 1984. He was murdered in a suicide bomb attack 1991.

Ghandi’s killing was seen as retaliation for sending Indian troops to Sri Lanka in 1987 to end the nation’s civil war.

Perarivalan was 19 years old at the time of the attack, and accused of buying batteries for the bomb.

He was convicted of criminal conspiracy to commit murder, among a series of other charges.

He was sentenced to death in 1998 alongside six others, but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in 2014.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court granted Perarivalan bail for his “conduct”.

Perarivalan reportedly received educational qualification in jail and is suffering from ill-health.