Chennai, Aug 12 (IANS) A day after the president rejected the mercy petitions of three men on death row for former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the mother of one of those sentenced Friday demanded a retrial, alleging her son had been framed.


Speaking to reporters here, Arputham Ammal asserted that her son Perarivalan was framed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

She also said she would challenge the rejection of mercy petition by President Pratibha Patil in the court.

Arputham Ammal contended that when the death sentence of Nalini - the prime accused in the case - could be commuted, why couldn't a similar yardstick could be applied to her son, who has already spent 20 years in jail.

She said she would seek Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa's help to save her son from the gallows.

President Patil Thursday rejected the clemency petition filed by Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan, linked to the LTTE.

A woman suicide bomber blew up Gandhi, who was prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai May 21, 1991.

Meanwhile PMK founder S.Ramadoss in a statement issued here demanded the central government to reconsider the mercy petitions of the three convicts and release them.