Chennai: Nalini Sriharan, convict in the assassination case of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who has been lodged in prison for the past 29 years, attempted suicide on Monday night at the Vellore women’s prison.

She has allegedly, in the last 29 years, for the first time attempted such an extreme step, according to her lawyer Pugalenthi.

Pugalenthi in an exclusive conversation with India Today TV said that a quarrel broke out between Nalini and another life convict and the latter escalated the issue to the jailer, following which Nalini attempted suicide.

Pugalenthi insisted that Nalini has never done anything of this sort earlier and hence “we want to know the real reason”.

After the incident, Nalini’s husband Murugan, who is also in prison for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, through a prison call to Pugalenthi requested that Nalini be shifted from the Vellore prison to the Puzhal prison.

The lawyer added that a legal request for the same will be made soon.

Seven people, including Nalini and her husband, were convicted by a special TADA court for their role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 by an LTTE suicide bomber during an election rally at nearby Sriperumbudur.

They were sentenced to death, but later it was commuted to life imprisonment.