10,000 [7] When Rajiv reached a campaign rally in Sriperumbudur, he left his car and began walking towards the dais where he was to deliver a speech. The Supreme Court held that the decision to eliminate Gandhi was precipitated by his interview to Sunday magazine (2128 August 1990), where he stated that he would send the IPKF to disarm the LTTE if he returned to power. New Delhi: The former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21 in 1991 by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. Indias premier investigative agency the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) just doesnt seem to get it right. 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. Later, after an appeal in the Supreme Court, only four (Dhanu and three others) of them were sentenced to death. At the time, India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War. The assassin, Dhanu (Thenmozhi Rajaratnam), approached and greeted him. Themozhi Rajaratnam was born in 1974 in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka to a family of Hindu Tamils; she was the daughter of a man named Rajaratnam and his second wife. It will enhance any encyclopedic page you visit with the magic of the WIKI 2 technology. They are: 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 first two levels were Quranic training. Thomas had said that "there were serious flaws" in the CBI's investigation, particularly related to the seizure of Rs. [34], On appeal to the SupremeCourt, only four of the accused were sentenced to death and the others to various jail terms. [20], The interim report of Justice Milap Chand Jain, looking into the conspiracy angle to the assassination, indicted the DMK for colluding with the LTTE. The court convicted and sentenced the seven persons who facilitated the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to life imprisonment. She was from Kupukullai in Jaffna, and studied until middle school in Batticaloa. 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. [28][29] Judge Thomas further stated that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination. In a report published on 30 October 2012 in DNA, 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. [32] Human rights groups protested that the trial did not meet the standards of a free trial. Seven years later in 1998, an Indian court convicted twenty-six people in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv. Website Designed, Developed & Maintained by Express Network Private Ltd. Rajiv Gandhi, India's sixth Prime Minister, was assassinated on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. She was from Kupukullai in Jaffna, and studied until middle school in Batticaloa. Pastabusesrevisited|AmnestyInternational, "IntheSupremeCourtofIndiaCriminalAppellateJurisdiction", "IregretRajivGandhi'sassassination:Nalini", "Mysinswashedaway,saysNaliniSriharan", "RajivGandhiassassinNaliniSriharannottobefreed", "RajivGandhi'sassassinNalinigetsback'A'classjailfacilities", "RajivGandhi'skillerNalinibreaksdown", "NalinishiftedfromVellorejailtoPuzhal", "After19yrsinjailforRajivmurder,Nalinimaybefreed", "ProbeChandraswami'sroleinRajivcase-Jainreport", "CBIseesgodman'sroleinRajiv'skilling", "IBhidcrucialvideoonRajivGandhimurder:Book", "TopLTTEleaderapologizestoIndiaforRajiv'skilling", "RajivGandhiassassinationvideosuppressed,claimsbook", "LTTE'smessagesshowwhyGandhi'smurdershouldbere-probed(Part-1)". [8] Gandhi, his assassin and 14 others were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were grievously injured. Karthikeyan. Thirumavalavan with VCK have supported Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the past. Their son, Manu Ranjith, married actor Vikram's daughter, Akshitha in 2017. [21], "LTTE and Punjab ultras spoke of a plan to assassinate Rajiv. [36][37] 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. They have also been far more deadly, killing an average of 21 people per attack in the first decade of their insurgency, compared to 13 for males. Vaiko left the UPA alliance before the 2009election, partly due to the Sri Lankan issue. 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. (Photo | CC-by-sa PlaneMad/Wikimedia), Now we are on Telegram too. The LTTE decision to kill him was perhaps aimed at preventing him from coming to power again. Here is a look back at the traumatic incident. [1] He allegedly was described as Velupillai Prabhakaran'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. 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. Thenmozhi "Gayatri" Rajaratnam aka Dhanu (Tamil: "" ; died 21 May 1991) was the . (@D.NO.1151of1998)", "RajivGandhiassassinationcase:tracingthetrial", "LegalluminariesdividedondeathverdictinRajivassassinationcase", India:ThePreventionofTerrorismBill. Thirumavalavan with VCK have supported Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the past. The letter signed LTTE written in Tamil said that they had received orders from the leadership to eliminate people opposing their "Eelam struggle". [5][6], Rajiv Gandhi was busy election-campaigning with G.K. Moopanar in southern states of India. An LTTE activist named Thenmozhi Rajaratnam detonated an RDX-laden suicide belt while greeting Rajiv at a function. The mother of a woman who died in Bangkok seven years ago and is suspected to be the 15th victim of "Aem Cyanide" meets police. To install click the Add extension button. The main reason why Dhanu became a Tiger is that her brother was a well-known cadre who had died and she was carrying on the family tradition. Try to avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of Thenmozhi Rajaratnam. 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. If you continue to interfere, your comrade Parasuraman of Ambattur who sneaked to the police about our presence there, will not be alive", In a 2011 interview, Kumaran Pathmanathan, 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. The SIT probe confirmed the role of the LTTE in the assassination,[19] which was upheld by the Supreme Court of India. The assassin, Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), approached and greeted him. Upon the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who petitioned for clemency for the sake of Nalini's daughter in 2000, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. After garlanding Rajiv, Rajaratnam evidently stooped to touch his feet and activated the explosive. Immediately after the assassination, the Chandrasekhar government handed the investigation over to the CBI on 22 May 1991. The views expressed in comments published on newindianexpress.com are those of the comment writers alone. Advertise With Us | However, no action was taken on the recommendations of the commission. Rajaratnam belonged to the former group. Supreme Court judgment thenmozhi r The disposal of waste tyres is becoming a major waste management problem in the world at the moment. Thenmozhi was survived by her mother, brother Sivavarman and two sisters, one of whom moved to France.[22]. [26], The judgment further cited the death of Thileepan in a hunger strike and the suicide by 12 LTTE cadres in a vessel in October 1987. [32] The trial was held behind closed doors, incamera, and the identity of witnesses was not disclosed. At the time, India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War. [48] The interim report of the JainCommission 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 government and fresh elections in 1998. Blakeslee, David S. "Politics and public goods in developing countries: Evidence from the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.". | AFP, The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) contingent that was set to sail off for home from Trincomalee on 29 November 1989, is seen arriving on board M V Akbar. Template:Sri Lankan Civil War graphical timeline, Coordinates: 125737N 795643E / 12.9602N 79.9452E / 12.9602; 79.9452, Please select an option below or scan the QR code to donate [35], On appeal to the Supreme Court, only four of the accused were sentenced to death and the others to various jail terms. However, the state government rejected her request. Hence it was held that it was not a terrorist act under TADA (Act). [25] Additionally, the Rajiv Gandhi administration had antagonised other Tamil militant organisations like PLOTE for reversing the military coup in Maldives back in 1988. Jayakumar - The brother in law of Robert Pious. Marital status of Thenmozhi at the time of her death, is not . 2023 Bangkok Post Public Company Limited. (@ D.NO.1151 of 1998)", "Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: tracing the trial", "Legal luminaries divided on death verdict in Rajiv assassination case", India: The Prevention of Terrorism Bill. Judge Wadhwa further stated there was nothing on record to show that the intention to kill Rajiv Gandhi was to overawe the government. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi", the report stated. Santhan alias T. Suthenthiraraja - A Sri Lankan national. She was known to have been a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). [1] It was after joining the LTTE that she came to be known by the assumed name Thenmozhi. The assassination was carried out by Kalaivani Rajaratnam. Thenmozhi Rajaratnam (1 January 1974-21 May 1991) was a female suicide bomber of the Tamil Tigers who killed Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on 21 May 1991. [44][45][46] One of the accused, Ranganath, said Chandraswami was the godfather who financed the killing. Upon the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who petitioned for clemency for the sake of Nalini's daughter in 2000, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Under TADA the accused could be convicted on the basis of evidence that would have been insufficient for conviction by an ordinary court under normal Indian law. [17] He was cremated on the banks of the river Yamuna, near the cremation spot of his mother, brother and grandfather. The release of the six convicts came months after the Supreme Court on May 18 ordered the release of AG Perarivalan, the first of the seven convicts in the case, on grounds of poor health and good conduct. The Narasimha Rao government initially rejected Verma's findings but later accepted it under pressure. 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. [15], Following his assassination, Rajiv Gandhi's mutilated body was airlifted to New Delhi. Judge Wadhwa further stated there was nothing on record to show that the intention to kill Rajiv Gandhi was to overawe the government. The Indian government investigation of the Gandhi assassination discovered a plan of striking sophistication plotted over many months. [8] Gandhi, his assassin and 14 others were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were grievously injured. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber. Premier Research is looking for: Associate Director Biostatistics. Santhan alias T. Suthenthiraraja - A Sri Lankan national. [47] In 1998, it was published in a newspaper that an interim report by the Jain commission made reference to a letter citing unverified information that QueenAishwaryaRajyaLakshmiDeviShah of Nepal had asked a courtier general of KingBirendraBirBikramShahDev 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. A state funeral was held for Rajiv Gandhi on 24 May 1991. [1] He allegedly was described as VelupillaiPrabhakaran'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. 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. Thenmozhi was survived by her mother, brother Sivavarman and two sisters, one of whom moved to France.[23]. "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. [27][28] Judge Thomas further stated that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. Themozhi Rajaratnam was born in 1974 in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka to a family of Hindu Tamils; she was the daughter of a man named Rajaratnam and his second wife. [29][30] This created a storm in India. Immediately after the assassination, the Chandrasekhar government handed the investigation over to the CBI on 22 May 1991. However, the court confirmed that the death sentence was given to only four of the convicts, including Nalini, on 11 May 1999. [20], The interim report of Justice MilapChandJain, looking into the conspiracy angle to the assassination, indicted the DMK for colluding with the LTTE. [34], On appeal to the Supreme Court, only four of the accused were sentenced to death and the others to various jail terms. She was the south Chennai district chief of the Mahila Congress and was standing close to former PM Rajiv Gandhi when Dhanu alias Thenmozhi Rajaratnam detonated an RDX-laden belt bomb. The report concluded that the DMK had provided sanctuary to the LTTE, which made it easier for the rebels to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.[20]. The move was to tackle LTTEs dream of a sovereign Tamil Eelam, which was a threat to India's 'unity, national interest and territorial integrity'. All rights reserved. If you continue to interfere, your comrade Parasuraman of Ambattur who sneaked to the police about our presence there, will not be alive", In a 2011 interview, Kumaran Pathmanathan, 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. Harithra Murugan, daughter of Nalini Sriharan and Murugan interview, Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, Chandrika Kumaratunga assassination attempt, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Assassination_of_Rajiv_Gandhi&oldid=1152349203, Attacks on civilians attributed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, People killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War, Articles with dead external links from October 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English, Articles needing additional references from May 2021, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), Shivarasan alias Raghuvaran or Raghu-anna, Planning and executing the plot of the assassination, Standby to accompany the human bomb she was also the back-up bomber, 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, 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. To some degree, the Boko Haram incidents break with the pattern from Sri Lanka and Chechnya. ': On May Day, workers rally for betterlabor conditions, Karnataka polls: BJP releases manifesto,promises UCC, freegas cylinders, milk packet, SC says it can dissolve marriage on grounds of 'irretrievable breakdown', The Morning Standard | Dinamani | Kannada Prabha | Samakalika Malayalam | Cinema Express | Indulgexpress | Edex Live | Events Xpress, Contact Us | Everyone knows the truth".[53]. Jayakumar - The brother in law of Robert Pious. S Nalini Sriharan is the lone surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and is serving life imprisonment. The letter further said the following:[52], "We were made to vacate Ambattur. That's it. This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 11:46. The party also demanded the removal of DMK from the UF government, arguing that it had played a key role in the death of Rajiv Gandhi.