Reported By:| Edited By: Nikhil S Dixit |Source: DNA |Updated: Oct 04, 2011, 01:40 AM IST. HarithraMurugan,daughterofNaliniSriharanandMuruganinterview, LessonsLearntandReconciliationCommission, 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. While, Wazhul Kamar Khan, was also shown as wanted in the 2003 Mulund train bomb blast case, whereas he was residing in Thane with his family. Globally, the particular circumstances that lead terrorist movements to take up suicide bombings are well known. In fact, 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. 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. An LTTE activist named Thenmozhi Rajaratnam detonated an RDX-laden suicide belt while greeting Rajiv at a function. Tucked under the bunched fabric of dresses or religious gowns, explosives are easy to conceal." Nalini was shifted back to Vellore prison from Puzhal prison amidst tight security on 7 September 2011. thenmozhi r The disposal of waste tyres is becoming a major waste management problem in the world at the moment. Later, after an appeal in the Supreme Court, only four (Dhanu and three others) of them were sentenced to death. The attack was carried by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam aka Dhanu, a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation of Sri Lanka. [27][28] Judge Thomas further stated that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. #shorts, Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case ? Thenmozhi was survived by her mother, brother Sivavarman and two sisters, one of whom moved to France.[23]. Past abuses revisited | Amnesty International, "In the Supreme Court of India Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction", "I regret Rajiv Gandhi's assassination: Nalini", "My sins washed away, says Nalini Sriharan", "Rajiv Gandhi assassin Nalini Sriharan not to be freed", "Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Nalini gets back 'A' class jail facilities", "Rajiv Gandhi's killer Nalini breaks down", "Nalini shifted from Vellore jail to Puzhal", "After 19 yrs in jail for Rajiv murder, Nalini may be freed", "Probe Chandraswami's role in Rajiv case - Jain report", "CBI sees godman's role in Rajiv's killing", "IB hid crucial video on Rajiv Gandhi murder: Book", "Top LTTE leader apologizes to India for Rajiv's killing", "Rajiv Gandhi assassination video suppressed, claims book", "LTTE's messages show why Gandhi's murder should be re-probed (Part-1)". [17] He was cremated on the banks of the river Yamuna, near the cremation spot of his mother, brother and grandfather. in. "They told us if we came upon a group of 10 to 20 people to press this," she said, speaking of a detonator. [49][50] 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 Queen Aishwarya Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah of Nepal 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. [15], Following his assassination, Rajiv Gandhi's mutilated body was airlifted to New Delhi. "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. Historica Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. They are currently undergoing life imprisonment in prisons in India. She "regrets" the killing of the former Prime Minister and claims that the real conspirators have not been booked yet. In 1991, she was sent to kill Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India in a suicide bombing in response to his deployment of Indian Army peacekeepers to the island during the Sri Lankan Civil War, heading to kill him at the village of Sriperumbudur (25 miles from Chennai) while he was at a rally. The LTTE decision to kill him was perhaps aimed at preventing him from coming to power again. [49] In an interview in 2017, Justice K.T. When you first hear the name Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, it doesn't seem to hold much significance - it's a name that doesn't really make you pause and think for a moment. Rajaratnam's eldest daughter from the second marriage was Kalaivani, also known as Thenmozhi or Dhanu. Despite no action, the findings raised vital questions that have previously been consistently raised by political analysts. [49] In an interview in 2017, Justice K.T.
Premier Research is attending the #DIA in Basel this week !!! The Narasimha Rao government initially rejected Verma's findings but later accepted it under pressure. Thenmozhi "Gayatri" Rajaratnam more famously known as 'Dhanu' blew herself on 21 May 1991 in a suicide bombing attack to assassinate former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The CBI says the designated TADA Court in Chennai awarded death sentences to all the 26 accused. She continues to be in jail. But this idea that women are reluctant to kill themselves for a cause -- instead tricked or brainwashed or forced by husbands or male family members -- is being gradually debunked by researchers looking at the phenomenon on a global scale. [39][40][41] Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, the three convicts condemned to death, claimed that they were not ordinary criminals but political prisoners.[42][43][44]. Legal experts were divided. "They are not cannon fodder just being thrown away," Robert Pape, the director of the University of Chicago centre, says of such female bombers. [5][6], Rajiv Gandhi was busy election-campaigning with G.K. Moopanar in southern states of India. Despite no action, the findings raised vital questions that have previously been consistently raised by political analysts. Copyright - newindianexpress.com 2023. She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated an RDX explosive-laden belt tucked below her dress at exactly 10:10 PM. The assassin, Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), approached and greeted him. 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.
How to pronounce Thenmozhi Rajaratnam | HowToPronounce.com The weblink titled Rajiv Gandhi assassination case has been recently put up by the agency on its web portal www.cbi.nic.in. Dhanu, whose hair is adorned with jasmine flowers, is the belt bomber who killed Rajiv Gandhi in the explosion | Express Photo, Seven pillars surround the site of the blast at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial. [33] Confessions given by the accused to the Superintendent of Police are taken as evidence against the accused under TADA. Upon appeal, the death sentence of only four of the twenty . The assassination was carried out by Kalaivani Rajaratnam. Another delegation met him around 14 March 1991 in New Delhi. The article explains the many ways in which female bombers have become "ideal weapons": "At security points run by men, they are often searched less thoroughly, if at all. But we could kill your leader (Mr.Gandhi) no matter where we are based. Subsequent accusations of conspiracy have been addressed by two commissions of inquiry and have brought down at least one national government, the government of InderKumarGujral. [17] He was cremated on the banks of the river Yamuna, near the cremation spot of his mother, brother and grandfather. In the Jain report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. "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. [33] Confessions given by the accused to the Superintendent of Police are taken as evidence against the accused under TADA. (Express Photo), Civil war was raging in Sri Lanka and on 5 June 1987, India, with Operation Poomalai, intervened. As many as 14 others were killed and over 40 others injured in the blast. 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. Disclaimer : We respect your thoughts and views! Santhan alias T. Suthenthiraraja - A Sri Lankan national. On a list of history's most notorious assassins, alongside John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald and Gavrilo Princip, the name Thenmozhi Rajaratnam would probably draw mostly blank stares. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi", the report stated. It is part of CBI archives. 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. Thirumavalavan with VCK have supported Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the past. [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 Queen Aishwarya Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah of Nepal 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. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. [38][39][40] Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, the three convicts condemned to death, claimed that they were not ordinary criminals but political prisoners.[41][42][43]. The assassin, Kalaivani Rajaratnam, approached and greeted him. [34] Confessions given by the accused to the Superintendent of Police are taken as evidence against the accused under TADA. "One soldier who has engaged with Boko Haram said he believed that fighters must drug the girls' food," notes the Times article's author, Dionne Searcey. His funeral was broadcast live nationally and internationally, and was attended by dignitaries from over 60 countries. StateofTamilNaduthroughSuperintendentofpolice,CBI/SITv/sNaliniand25others. Advertise With Us | 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. However, the court confirmed that the death sentence was given to only four of the convicts, including Nalini, on 11 May 1999. 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. Seven years later in 1998, an Indian court convicted twenty-six people in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv. Immediately after the expose, CBI had withdrawn the said list and had promised to correct all the errors. [32] Human rights groups protested that the trial did not meet the standards of a free trial. Under the TADA an accused can appeal only to the Supreme Court. 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 of DMK. she joined the Tamil Tigers movement in hopes of establishing the independent state of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka. [31] Human rights groups protested that the trial did not meet the standards of a free trial. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination. [1], Apart from the suicide bomber Kalaivani Rajaratnam, several people were killed in the blast on 21 May 1991:[1][10][11], Around forty-three bystanders including police sub-inspector Anushiya Daisy were also injured in the explosion.[13]. | Express Photo, Samdani Begam with Rajiv Gandhi moments before the assassination at Sriperumbudur. 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. In Image: Veluppillai Prabhakaran | Express Photo, This led to Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in the infamous suicide bombing at Sriperumbudur | Express Photo, Rajiv appeared at the Sriperumbudur temple grounds where he was greeted by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam alias Dhanu, who, while trying to touch Gandhi's feet, activated a bomb wrapped around her body. Under the TADA an accused can appeal only to the SupremeCourt. The letter further said the following:[52], "We were made to vacate Ambattur. | Express Photo, In this 8 June 2015 photo, Perarivalan, one of the convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, is seen being brought to the RGGGH for a master health check up | Express Photo by P Jawahar, The final moments of Rajiv Gandhi's life and the event were captured by Hari Babu, a photographer present at the event. [28][29] Judge Thomas further stated that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. In the Jain report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Shift to India Gradually, the Puli Padai withered away. He further said Rajiv's assassination was "well planned and done actually with Prabhakaran and (LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman). Evidence was gathered from charred flesh and bones found at the site of the explosion. The assassination was caught on film by a local photographer, Haribabu,[9] whose camera and film was found intact at the site despite him also dying in the blast. [23] Thenmozhi was the daughter of a Sri Lankan Tamil man named A. Rajaratnam[22] and his second wife. Roberts, Michael. Marital status of Thenmozhi at the time of her death, is not known to the general public. [35][36] 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. Very difficult. The Election Commission (EC) is expected to spend a week considering an 11-billion-baht subsidy on household electricity bills proposed by the government, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said. Nalini was shifted back to Vellore prison from Puzhal prison amidst tight security on 7 September 2011. "Why Rajiv Gandhi's Death Saved the Congress: How an Event Affected the Outcome of the 1991 Election in India." To some degree, the Boko Haram incidents break with the pattern from Sri Lanka and Chechnya. (Photos from the Jain Commission. [8] Gandhi, his assassin and 14 others were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were grievously injured. The letter signed LTTE written in Tamil said that they had received orders from the leadership to eliminate people opposing their "Eelam struggle". Also other strong LTTE sympathizers Vaiko with MDMK and Thol. S Nalini Sriharan is the lone surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and is serving life imprisonment. Do not interfere with our activities. The final report, submitted in June 1992, concluded that the security arrangements for the former PM were adequate but that the local Congressparty leaders disrupted and broke these arrangements.[14]. Thereafter, the Justice J. S. Verma Commission was formed to look into the security lapses that contributed to the killing. Bloomberg View. [citation needed], In the 2001 Norway peace talks, Prabhakaran told the press that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a sorrowful event. On 28 January 1998, the designated TADA court in Chennai gave death sentences to all the 26 accused. On 21 May, after campaigning in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, his next stop was Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. [44][45][46] One of the accused, Ranganath, said Chandraswami was the godfather who financed the killing. [29][30] This created a storm in India. The report concluded that the DMK had provided sanctuary to the LTTE, which made it easier for the rebels to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.[20]. But by all accounts they appear to be just as committed as male rebels to freeing their homeland from what they see as foreign subjugation. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. The agency created a special investigation team under D. R. Karthikeyan[18] to determine who was responsible for the assassination. (@ 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. [26] Additionally, the Rajiv Gandhi administration had antagonised other Tamil militant organisations like PLOTE for reversing the military coup in Maldives back in 1988. An LTTE activist named Thenmozhi Rajaratnam detonated an RDX-laden suicide belt while greeting Rajiv at a function. 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. The grainy tape shows not a pawn but a woman eager to kill Israelis. [1] It was after joining the LTTE that she came to be known by the assumed name Thenmozhi. Come and meet us booth #44 !!! However, the Madras High Court intervened and stayed their execution for eight weeks based on their petitions.
Women seen as effective suicide bombers - Bangkok Post 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 trial was conducted under the TerroristandDisruptiveActivitiesAct. [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. 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". Everyone knows the truth".[53]. 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. In 2010, Nalini had moved the MadrasHighCourt seeking release as she had served more than 20 years in prison. Another delegation met him around 14 March 1991 in New Delhi. She was from Kupukullai in Jaffna, and studied until middle school in Batticaloa. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi", the report stated. In 2006, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told the Indian television channel NDTV that the killing was a "great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret". Arrested on 14 June 1991, she was sentenced to death, along with the other 25 accused. Hence it was held that it was not a terrorist act under TADA (Act). Indeed, it is thought that Gandhi told his security detail to allow Rajaratnam to approach him with a flowered garland. "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.