According to the news report Mr. Kovind conveyed to the government that the “Centre doesn’t concur with its view” to release the prisoners. The President is bound by the advice of his Council of Ministers in such matters.

In the last four years, the State government has written twice to the Home Ministry to pardon the convicts and release them on humanitarian grounds. “The President has rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s plea to free the prisoners on the advice of the Home Ministry. This has been conveyed to the State. The assassins of the former Prime Minister of India cannot walk free under any circumstances,” a top official told The Hindu.