Cell phone found in Nalini's prison cell

Jail authorities at the high security Vellore prison on Tuesday said they have recovered a cell phone from Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, during a 'routine check.'

"A routine check was conducted this morning under jail superintendent Rajalakshmi and officials recovered the mobile phone from Nalini," Director General (Prisons) ADGP K R Shyamsunder said.

The phone was 'active' at the time when it was being recovered and authorities are going into the details of call records, he said.

After further investigation jail authorities would decide on action against her with regard to 'violation of prison rules,' Shyamsunder said.

Nalini, serving a life term in the high-security special prison at Vellore, had recently appealed in the Madras high court seeking premature release which the court had declined on different grounds including gravity of the crime.

A division bench of the Madras high court had rejected her petition on April 6 observing that the 44-year-old Nalini had committed the crime in a cunning and meticulous manner, which killed the former prime minister in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.