Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case: Who Killed Rajiv Gandhi And Why? This Case Should Be Done: The assassination of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is one of the most important events that affected the country’s history and politics. On Friday, the Supreme Court released the six accused in the case. On Friday, six convicts Nalini, PR Ravichandran, Robert Pias, Suthendraraja, Jayakumar, and Sriharan were released. In May this year, the Supreme Court decided to release AG Perarivalan, the accused in the case. With this, once again the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi came to the fore. Although the present generation does not know much, this murder changed the country’s politics in the 90s. But let’s find out why the original Tamil Tigers wanted to kill Rajiv Gandhi.
The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi:
On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide attack by the Sri Lankan Tigers while he was on his way to participate in an election program at Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A woman who came close to touching Rajiv Gandhi’s feet blew herself up. Rajiv Gandhi died on the spot in this incident. A total of 14 people died and 40 people were injured in this attack. While photographing the event, one of the victims, Haribabu, a photographer, captured the suicide bomber Thenmoli Rajaratnam alias Dhanu from Jaffna, Sri Lanka on his camera.
In support of the Sri Lankan army, the separatist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is said to have assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 out of anger that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sent the Indian Peacekeeping Force, which committed atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils.
Inquiry:
The investigation into the murder was handed over to the CBI on May 22, 1991. The Justice JS Verma Commission was also formed to look into the security lapses related to the murder. The TADA court has filed an SIT charge sheet against 41 accused in this case. Justice Milap Chand Jain’s interim report revealed many sensational facts about the incident. The DMK party, which was in power in Tamil Nadu at the time of the murder, alleged that it was in collusion with the LTTE and had given shelter to many LTTE members before the murder. Sivarasan, who executed the scheme in this murder case, along with his six accomplices committed suicide and died in Bangalore.
26 persons sentenced to death:
In 1998, the TADA court in Chennai sentenced 26 people to death for their involvement in the murder. The accused filed an appeal in the Supreme Court in 1999 challenging this verdict. At that time the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of Murugan, Santhan, Periwala, and Nalini. In October of the same year, 19 people were released in this case. In 2000, the DMK government asked the governor to commute Nalini’s sentence. But when the state government sent her amnesty petition to the President, it was rejected.
In 2000, Rajiv Gandhi’s wife and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi filed a pardon petition for Nalini. She asked that her death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. In 2014, the Supreme Court commuted Nalini’s sentence from death to life imprisonment. Recently, the Supreme Court released six people who are currently in jail. The long drawn-out case has finally come to an end.
LTTE Apology:
In 2011, LTTE treasurer and key leader Kumaran Padmanathan apologized for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran asked India to forgive him for killing Rajiv Gandhi.
