One of the seven convicts in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, Nalini Sriharan, who is presently serving a life term in the Vellore women’s prison in Tamil Nadu, donated ₹5,000 to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund (CMPRF) on Tuesday.
On May 11, state chief minister MK Stalin introduced the fund and appealed to people to make donations that would be used for COVID-19 control.
According to a government statement released on Tuesday, CMPRF has already collected ₹69 crore in a week.
Of this, ₹25 crore has been earmarked to source Remdesivir and other drugs for COVID-19, and another ₹25 crore will be utilised to buy containers to transport liquid oxygen from other states.
The donations came from industrialists, actors such as Rajinikanth, and Opposition AIADMK that donated ₹1 crore.
Nalini’s lawyer Pugazhendhi Pandian said she donated the amount from her savings in the prisoners’ cash property account.
According to Tamil Nadu prisons guidelines, the wages earned inside the prison and the money given to them by their family is kept in this account.
Nalini earned inside the prison by stitching but stopped after the first wave of COVID-19, Pandian said.
“She wrote to the police superintendent on Monday that she wants to donate and it was processed today,” he said. “She didn’t give any reason for her donation.”
Surjitt Sahani
