Rajiv Gandhi Assassination
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The assassination of
Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...
, former
prime minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...
, occurred as a result of a
suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...
in
Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur, also known as Thiruperumbudur, is a Municipality and the headquarters of Sriperumbudur taluk located in Kanchipuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Chennai ...
in
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to
Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...
and the assassin, were killed. It was carried out by 22-year-old
Kalaivani Rajaratnam Kalaivani Rajaratnam (26 July 1968 – 21 May 1991) was a Sri Lankan militant associated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Born in Kaithady Nunavil in the Jaffna Peninsula, she is notably recognized for her role as a suicide bomb ...
(popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), a member of the banned
Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...
separatist rebel organization
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...
(LTTE). At the time, India had just ended its involvement, through the
Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...
, in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Subsequent accusations of
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
have been addressed by two commissions of inquiry and have brought down at least one national government, the government of
Inder Kumar Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral (4 December 1919 – 30 November 2012) was an Indian diplomat, politician, and anti-colonial independence activist, who served as prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998. Born in Punjab, he was influenced by ...
.


Attack and death

Rajiv Gandhi campaigned on behalf of the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
and its state affiliates, such as the
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is the wing of Indian National Congress serving in Tamil Nadu. It is responsible for organizing and coordinating the party's activities and campaigns within the state, as well as selecting candidates for loca ...
, in the
1991 Indian general election General elections were held in India on 20 May, 12 June and 15 June 1991 to elect the members of the 10th Lok Sabha, although they were delayed until 19 February 1992 in Punjab. No party could muster a majority in the Lok Sabha, resulting i ...
. On 21 May, after campaigning in
Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...
,
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
, his next stop was
Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur, also known as Thiruperumbudur, is a Municipality and the headquarters of Sriperumbudur taluk located in Kanchipuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Chennai ...
,
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
. About two hours after arriving in
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
(now Chennai), Gandhi was driven by motorcade in a white Ambassador car to
Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur, also known as Thiruperumbudur, is a Municipality and the headquarters of Sriperumbudur taluk located in Kanchipuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Chennai ...
, stopping along the way at a few other election campaigning venues. Neena Gopal of the ''Gulf News of Dubai'' was also in the car, in the back seat with a local candidate,
Maragatham Chandrasekar Maragatham Chandrasekhar (11 November 1917 – 26 October 2001) was an Indian politician and member of parliament from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Personal life Maragatham Chandrasekhar was born Maragatham Muniswami to Vidwan Kalathur ...
. When Gandhi reached a campaign rally in Sriperumbudur, he left his car and began walking towards the
dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...
where he was to deliver a speech. Along the way, he was garlanded by many well-wishers,
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
workers and school children. The assassin, Kalaivani Rajaratnam, approached and greeted him. She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated an
RDX RDX (Research Department Explosive or Royal Demolition Explosive) or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2N2O2)3. It is white, odorless, and tasteless, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified ...
explosive-laden belt tucked below her dress at exactly 10:10 PM. Gandhi, Rajaratnam and 14 others were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were grievously injured. The assassination was caught on film by a local photographer, Haribabu (also a conspirator), who also died in the blast but whose camera and film was found intact at the site.


Victims

Apart from former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the suicide bomber Kalaivani Rajaratnam, 15 people perished in the blast: *Dharman, police constable *Santhani Begum, Mahila Congress leader *Rajaguru, police inspector *Chandra, police constable *Edward Joseph, police inspector *K. S. Mohammed Iqbal, police superintendent *Latha Kannan, Mahila Congress worker, who was with her daughter Kokilavani *Kokilavani, ten-year-old daughter of Latha Kannan, who sang a poem to Gandhi immediately before the blast *Darryl Jude Peters, attendee and observer *Munuswamy, former member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council *Saroja Devi, seventeen-year-old college student *Pradeep K. Gupta, personal security officer of Rajiv Gandhi *Ethiraju *Murugan, police constable *Ravichandran,
Black Cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...
command *Haribabu, a conspirator with Kalaivani Rajaratnam Around 43 bystanders, including police sub-inspector Anushiya Daisy, were injured in the explosion; there were 59 casualties in total.


Security lapses

The
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
held that the decision to eliminate Gandhi was precipitated by his interview with ''Sunday'' magazine (21–28 August 1990), where he stated that he would send the IPKF to disarm the LTTE if he returned to power. Gandhi also defended the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord in the same interview. The LTTE's decision to kill him was perhaps aimed at preventing him from coming to power again. Thereafter, the Justice J. S. Verma Commission was formed to look into the security lapses that contributed to the killing. The final report, submitted in June 1992, concluded that the security arrangements for the former PM were adequate but that the local
Congress party The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement t ...
leaders disrupted and broke these arrangements. The findings raised vital questions that political analysts have consistently raised. The
Narasimha Rao Narasimha Rao or Narasimharao is an Indian name. It may refer to: * P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004), ninth prime minister of India * Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao (1865–1940), Telugu writer * Vinjamuri Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao (1887–?), ...
government initially rejected Verma's findings but later accepted it under pressure. However, no action was taken on the recommendations of the commission. Sources have indicated that Gandhi was repeatedly informed that there was a threat to his life and that he should not travel to Tamil Nadu. The then governor of Tamil Nadu Bhishma Narain Singh, broke official protocol and twice warned Gandhi about the threat to his life if he visited the state.
Subramanian Swamy Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu ...
said in his book, ''Sri Lanka in Crisis: India's Options (2007)'', that an LTTE delegation had met Rajiv Gandhi on 5 March 1991. Another delegation met him around 14 March 1991 in New Delhi. Journalist Ram Bahadur Rai wrote that:
The message conveyed to Rajiv Gandhi by both these delegations was that there was no threat to his life and he could travel to Tamil Nadu without fearing for his life. I did a series of articles after his assassination that pointed out how, after these meetings, Rajiv became complacent about his security and broke security rules in more than 40 rallies.


Funeral

Following his assassination, Rajiv Gandhi's mutilated body was airlifted to
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. From the
Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving New Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of ,
, his body was sent to the
All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. These institutes ha ...
in
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
for an autopsy, reconstruction and embalming. A
state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
was held for Rajiv Gandhi on 24 May 1991. His funeral was broadcast live nationally and internationally and was attended by dignitaries from over 60 countries. He was cremated on the banks of the river
Yamuna The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Bandarpunch peaks of the Low ...
, near the cremation spot of his
mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
,
brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...
and
grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a m ...
. Today, the site where he was cremated is known as Veerbhumi.


Investigation

Immediately after the assassination, the
Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar (17 April 1927 – 8 July 2007), also known as Jananayak, was an Indian politician and the prime minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata ...
government handed the investigation over to the CBI on 22 May 1991. The agency created a special investigation team (SIT) under D. R. Karthikeyan to determine who was responsible for the assassination. The SIT probe confirmed the role of the LTTE in the assassination, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of India. The Commission report stated that the year 1989 signified "the perpetuation of the general political trend of indulging the Tamil militants on Indian soil and tolerance of their wide-ranging criminal and anti-national activities". The report also alleged that LTTE leaders in Jaffna were in possession of sensitive coded messages exchanged between the Union government and the state government. "There is evidence to show that, during this period, some of the most vital wireless messages were passed between the LTTE operatives based in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi", the report stated. The Congress subsequently brought down the United Front (UF) government of I K Gujral after the report was leaked in November 1998.


Perpetrator

The assassination was carried out by
Kalaivani Rajaratnam Kalaivani Rajaratnam (26 July 1968 – 21 May 1991) was a Sri Lankan militant associated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Born in Kaithady Nunavil in the Jaffna Peninsula, she is notably recognized for her role as a suicide bomb ...
alias Dhanu. She was born on 26 July 1968 in Kaithady Nunavil,
Jaffna Peninsula The Jaffna Peninsula (, or ) is a region in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna, and comprises much of the former land mass of the medieval Jaffna Kingdom. The peninsula was historically ...
. It was after joining the LTTE that she came to be known by the assumed name Thenmozhi. Her family hailed from Kupukullai, a small village in
Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...
. She studied in
Vavuniya Vavuniya (, ) is a city in Vavuniya District in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The municipality is administered by an Municipal Council. The town has been known since ancient times, but being a heavily forested area, less than 100,000 people ...
and
Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...
. She also temporarily lived in
Urumpirai Urumpirai () is a town in Northern Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. It is located from Jaffna. * Urumpirai Temple () * Katpahapillaiyar Temple See also *Sivakumaran Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran (; 26 September 1950 – 5 June 1974) was a Sri Lank ...
. She was inspired by the Tamil militant group
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...
(Tamil Tigers) at a young age, and joined the
Black Tigers The Black Tigers () was an elite suicide commando (special operations capable) unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant Tamil separatist organization in Sri Lanka. They were specially selected and trained LTTE cadres who ...
(suicide bombers) after an ankle injury. She was known as “''captain Akino''” and was a flag bearer for female LTTE marches. Another reason why Kalaivani became a Tiger is that her brother was a well-known cadre who had died and she was carrying on the family tradition. Kalaivani was the daughter of a Sri Lankan Tamil man named A. Rajaratnam and his second wife. A. Rajaratnam's first wife died during childbirth in 1962, when he was visiting tea estates. Rajaratnam was described as
Velupillai Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ; ; 26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan guerrilla and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organiza ...
's mentor, and he played a vital role in moulding the LTTE chief's thinking during the movement's formative years between 1972 and 1975. A. Rajaratnam died in 1975 when Kalaivani was 7; he was in Chennai, and his body was airlifted to Jaffna, where his funeral was held. Marital status of Kalaivani at the time of her death, is not known to the general public. Kalaivani was survived by her mother, brother Sivavarman and two sisters, Anuja and Vasugi, the former died in a skirmish with the Indian army in Weli Oya in late 1991 and the latter moved to
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Kalaivani is related to Sivarasan and Subha, two co-conspirators of the plot. Sivarasan's mother, Sivapackiyam was the sister of Kalaivani's father whereas Subha's parents are related to Sivarasan's father. Another assumed reason as to why they were selected to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi was due to the genetics of the Rajaratnam-Pillai clan, of which many exhibited drastically different front and side profiles. The court convicted and sentenced the seven persons who facilitated the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to life imprisonment. On November 11, 2022, the Supreme Court of India ordered the release of six convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, after the Tamil Nadu government controversially recommended their remission in March 2016, the convicts are: *V. Sriharan alias Murugan – A
LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...
operative from Sri Lanka *S. Nalini Sriharan – Wife of V. Sriharan. Nalini is a citizen of India. *T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan – A Sri Lankan national. *Robert Pious – A Sri Lankan national. *Jayakumar – The brother-in-law of Robert Pious. *Ravichandran – A Sri Lankan national. *
A. G. Perarivalan A. G. Perarivalan (born 30 July 1971) is an Indian man who was convicted for his involvement in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Murugan and Santhan who were other two convicts from the same ca ...
– An Indian citizen who was arrested for supplying a 9-volt battery for the explosive device.


Supreme Court judgment

As per the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
judgment, by Judge K. T. Thomas, the killing was carried out due to personal animosity of the LTTE chief
Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ; ; 26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan guerrilla and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organiza ...
towards
Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...
arising from his sending the
Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...
(IPKF) to Sri Lanka and the numerous war crimes perpetrated by IPKF personnel against Sri Lankan Tamils. Additionally, the Rajiv Gandhi administration had antagonised other Tamil militant organisations like
PLOTE The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) is a former Tamil militant group that had become a pro-government paramilitary group and political party. PLOTE's political wing is known as the Democratic People's Liberation Front. O ...
for reversing the military coup in
Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...
back in 1988. The judgment further cited the death of
Thileepan Rasaiah Parthipan (; 29 November 1963 – 26 September 1987; commonly known by the nom de guerre Thileepan) was a Tamil Eelam revolutionary and member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation ...
in a hunger strike and the suicide by 12 LTTE cadres in a vessel in October 1987. While convicting the accused, four of them to death and others to various jail terms, the judgment stated that no evidence existed that any one of the conspirators ever desired the death of any Indian other than Rajiv Gandhi, though several others were killed. Judge Wadhwa further stated there was nothing on record to show that the intention to kill Rajiv Gandhi was to overawe the government. Hence it was held that it was not a terrorist act under TADA (Act). Judge Thomas further stated that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. The special investigation team of India's premier special investigation agency
Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...
was not able to pinpoint when the decision to kill Rajiv Gandhi was taken.


Trial

The trial was conducted under the
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
. On 28 January 1998, the designated TADA court in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
gave death sentences to all the 26 accused. This created a storm in India. Legal experts were divided. Human rights groups protested that the trial did not meet the standards of a free trial. The trial was held behind closed doors, '' in chambers'', and the identity of witnesses was not disclosed. Ms A. Athirai, an accused, was 17 years old when she was arrested. Under the TADA an accused can appeal only to the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. Appeal to the High Court is not allowed as in normal law. Confessions given by the accused to the Superintendent of Police are taken as evidence against the accused under TADA. Under TADA the accused could be convicted based on evidence that would have been insufficient for conviction by an ordinary court under normal Indian law. In the Rajiv Gandhi case, confessions by the accused formed a major part of the evidence in the judgment against them which they later claimed was taken under duress. On appeal to the Supreme Court, only four accused were sentenced to death and the others to various jail terms. S. Nalini Sriharan is the lone surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and is serving life imprisonment. Arrested on 14 June 1991, she was sentenced to death, along with the other 25 accused. However, the court confirmed that the death sentence was given to only four of the convicts, including Nalini, on 11 May 1999. Nalini, who is the wife of an LTTE operative known as V. Sriharan alias Murugan, another convict in the case who had been sentenced to death, later gave birth to a girl, Harithra Murugan in prison. Upon the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Congress president
Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...
, who petitioned for clemency for the sake of Nalini's daughter in 2000, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Nalini was treated as a class 'A' convict from 10 September 1999 till the privilege was withdrawn in May 2010 after a mobile phone was allegedly recovered from her cell during a surprise check. She "regrets" the killing of the former Prime Minister and claims that the real conspirators have not been booked yet. The President of India rejected the clemency pleas of Murugan and two others on death row, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A G Perarivalan alias Arivu in August 2011. The execution of the three convicts was scheduled for 9 September 2011. However, the
Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...
intervened and stayed their execution for eight weeks based on their petitions. Nalini was shifted back to Vellore prison from Puzhal prison amidst tight security on 7 September 2011. In 2010, Nalini moved the Madras High Court seeking release as she had served more than 20 years in prison. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. However, the state government rejected her request. Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, the three convicts condemned to death, claimed that they were not ordinary criminals but political prisoners.


Jain Commission and other reports

In the Jain report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination. One of the accused, Ranganath, said Chandraswami was the godfather who financed the killing. In 1998, it was published in a newspaper that an interim report by the Jain commission referred to a letter citing unverified information that Queen Aishwarya Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah of
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
had asked a courtier general of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal, "to arrange for the assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi…(for which) Rs 10 crore would be made available." Also included in the report are said to be the drunken utterances of a policeman confirming the matter. The interim report of the
Jain Commission The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to Gandhi and the assassin, were killed. It w ...
created a storm when it accused M. Karunanidhi the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu of a role in the assassination, leading to Congress withdrawing its support for the
I. K. Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral (4 December 1919 – 30 November 2012) was an Indian diplomat, politician, and anti-colonial independence activist, who served as prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998. Born in Punjab, he was influenced by ...
government and fresh elections in 1998. Also other strong LTTE sympathizers
Vaiko Vaiko, birth name Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy (born 22 May 1944), is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Tamil Nadu. He is the founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Drav ...
with
MDMK The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; MDMK) is a political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The headquarters of the party is called Thayaga ...
and
Thol. Thirumavalavan Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan (born in 17 August 1962 as Ramasamy Thirumavalavan), better known as Thol. Thirumavalavan is a political leader, scholar and activist from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is a Member of Parliament from Ch ...
with VCK have supported Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the past. Vaiko left the UPA alliance before the 2009 election, partly due to the Sri Lankan issue. In a report published on 30 October 2012 in DNA India, K. Ragothaman, former chief investigator of the CBI, talks about his new book ''Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi: From the CBI Files'' and tells the reporter that while the CBI had started a preliminary inquiry in which M. K. Narayanan, former West Bengal Governor and former Intelligence Bureau director, was named a suspect in hiding evidence, the case was buried by the CBI SIT Chief, D. R. Karthikeyan. In an interview in 2017, Justice K.T. Thomas had said that "there were serious flaws" in the CBI's investigation, particularly related to the seizure of Rs. 40 lakh in cash from the convicts, which led him to believe that the probe exposed "an unpardonable flaw" in the "Indian criminal justice system". In the 2001 Norway peace talks, Prabhakaran told the press that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a sorrowful event. In 2006, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told the Indian television channel
NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...
that the killing was a "great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret". Months before the assassination, Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy, who served as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee from 1989 to 1994, produced a letter, purportedly from the LTTE threatening to kill him and Rajiv Gandhi, who had called for a tight clamp down of the LTTE activities in Tamil Nadu. The letter signed by LTTE written in Tamil said that they had received orders from the leadership to eliminate people opposing their "Eelam struggle". The letter further said the following: In a 2011 interview,
Kumaran Pathmanathan Shanmugam Kumaran Tharmalingam (; alias Selvarasa Pathmanathan, Kumaran Pathmanathan, or simply KP; born 6 April 1955) is a former prominent member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Pathmanathan was on Interpol's most wanted list ...
, who was the Treasurer of LTTE and its chief arms procurer, apologized to India for Velupillai Prabhakaran's "mistake" of killing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He further said Rajiv's assassination was "well planned and done actually with Prabhakaran and (LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman). Everyone knows the truth".


Memorial and popular culture

*The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial was built on the site and is one of the major tourist attractions in the small industrial town. *''Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: Unanswered Questions and Unasked Queries'' by
Subramanian Swamy Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu ...
*''Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi – from CBI Files'' by the
Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...
officer and chief investigating officer of the assassination case. *''Beyond the Tigers: Tracking Rajiv Gandhi's Assassination'' by Rajeev Sharma. *''Bypass: Flaws in the Forensic Investigation of Rajiv Gandhi Murder'', the first open-source feature film from India.


Films

*''
Kuttrapathirikai ''Kuttrapathirikai'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language film directed by R. K. Selvamani. The film stars Ramki, Rahman, Ramya Krishnan and Roja. It was produced by Ravi Yadav's Yadavalaya Films, had music scored by Ilaiyaraaja and has the assa ...
'' *''
Mission 90 Days ''Mission 90 Days'' is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by retired Army officer and former commando Major AK Raveendran SM starring Mammooty. It is Major Ravi's second directorial venture and is based on the assassination of former I ...
'' *'' The Terrorist'' *''
Cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
'' *''
Madras Cafe ''Madras Cafe'' is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language political action thriller film directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by John Abraham and Ronnie Lahiri under the banners JA Entertainment and Rising Sun Films. The film stars John Abraham, ...
''


See also

*
List of things named after Rajiv Gandhi The following things have been named after Rajiv Gandhi, who was the Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. A Right to Information query raised in 2013 was answered saying that over 450 schemes, building, projects, institutions, etc. were na ...
* Sri Lankan Civil War * Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War *
Assassination of Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India, Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 AM on 31 October 1984 at her 7 RCR, residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh (assassin), Be ...
, the otherwise unrelated killing of Rajiv's mother and predecessor as Prime Minister *
Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa Ranasinghe Premadasa, the 3rd President of Sri Lanka, was assassinated on 1 May 1993. Premadasa, along with 23 others, were killed in an explosion set off by an LTTE suicide bomber during a May Day rally held in the country's capital of Colomb ...
, another LTTE suicide bombing which killed
Sri Lankan President The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governme ...
Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa''; ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 unt ...


References


Further reading


State of Tamil Nadu through Superintendent of police, CBI/SIT v/s Nalini and 25 others.
*Blakeslee, David S. "Politics and public goods in developing countries: Evidence from the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi." ''Journal of Public Economics'' 163 (2018): 1–1
online
*Gopal, Neena. ''The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi'' (Penguin Random House India, 2017). *Harish M, ''The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi & Involvement of Sikh Extremists'' (2020
excerpt
*Kaarthikenyan, D. R., and Radhavinod Raju. ''Rajiv Gandhi Assassination'' (Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 2008)
online
*Roberts, Michael. "Killing Rajiv Gandhi: Dhanu's sacrificial metamorphosis in death." ''South Asian History and Culture'' 1.1 (2009): 25–4
online
*Rudolph, Lloyd I. "Why Rajiv Gandhi's Death Saved the Congress: How an Event Affected the Outcome of the 1991 Election in India." in ''India Votes'' (Routledge, 2019) pp. 436–454.


External links


Harithra Murugan, daughter of Nalini Sriharan and Murugan interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Rajiv 1991 in India 1991 murders in India 1990s in Tamil Nadu Assassinations in India Attacks on civilians attributed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Crime in Tamil Nadu Deaths by person in India Filmed assassinations Incidents of violence against men Indian Peace Keeping Force Mass murder in 1991 May 1991 crimes May 1991 in India People killed during the Sri Lankan civil war Rajiv Gandhi Suicide bombings in 1991 Suicide bombings in India Terrorist incidents in India in 1991 Violence against men in India Gandhi, Rajiv 20th-century mass murder in India