Death sentence for all 26 for Rajiv assassination

By Our Legal Correspondent CHENNAI, Jan. 28.

All the 26 accused who stood trial in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case have been sentenced to death.

The Designated Judge, TADA Court-I, who pronounced the judgment at the high-security Poonamallee special prison-cum-court complex near here today, held that all the accused were guilty of conspiring to assassinate the former Prime Minister, with the help of the LTTE.

The death sentence was subject to confirmation by the Supreme Court. The convicted persons are expected to be taken to the Vellore Central Prison tomorrow.

``In this case, Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister, was assassinated in pursuance of a diabolical plot, carefully conceived and executed by a highly organised foreign terrorist organisation, the LTTE. Sixteen innocent lives were lost and many sustained grievous/simple injuries. Considering the above circumstances, I hold this the rarest of rare cases and I award the death sentence for the accused,'' the Judge, Mr. V. Navaneetham, said.

The Judge also said that from the evidence, oral and documentary, it was established by the prosecution that the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi was hatched by the LTTE supremo, V. Prabhakaran.

Besides the charge of conspiracy, the Judge also held that the accused were guilty of offences under the provisions of the TADA Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Arms Act, the Passport Act, the Foreigners Act, and the Wireless and Telegraphy Act, and also for offences committed under various sections of the IPC.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at Sriperambudur, about 50 km from here, on May 21, 1991, by a woman suicide-bomber, Dhanu, who set off a belt bomb just as he was approaching the dais at the venue of a campaign meeting for the 1991 general election.

The chargesheet filed by the Special Investigation Team of the CBI on May 20, 1992, exactly a year after the assassination, sought to piece together the sequence of events from July 1987 leading to the assassination. It listed 41 persons as accused. Twelve of them were dead, of whom 10 were Sri Lankans, and three were declared proclaimed absconders. None of the 26 accused in custody got bail and they were lodged in the high security Poonamallee prison.

The LTTE supremo, V.Prabhakaran, its intelligence wing chief, Pottu Amman, and the deputy chief of its women's intelligence wing, Akhila, were declared proclaimed absconders. Sivarasan alias Bhackiachandran, Dhanu, Subha, Haribabu, Nehru alias Gokhul, Shanmugam, Gundu Santhan, Suresh Master, Dixon alias Kishore, Amman alias Gaigaikumar, Anna alias Kirthi and Kamuna alias Jamila, are all dead.

The judgment ran into nearly 2,000 pages and the Judge read out only the operative portions which itself took almost the entire day. The trial started on January 19, 1994, and concluded on November 5, 1997, when the Judge reserved orders.

The Judge held that the charge of conspiracy had been proved against all the accused.

In respect of Nalini (Accused 1) and Perarivalan (A 18), the Judge held that the charges against them under IPC section 302 had been also been proved. The Judge held that Nalini shared the common intention to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and convicted her under 16 counts.

He also found her guilty under Section 3(2) of the TADA Act as the assassination was a terrorist act committed on Indian soil. She was also found guilty under Section 326 of the IPC (causing grievous injuries to 13 persons) and under Section 324 (causing simple injuries to six persons).

Nalini, who married another accused, Murugan, while they were in custody, was found guilty of harbouring, conspiring, abetment and preparatory to the commissioning of a terrorist act and also that she had indulged in a disruptive act under Section 4(3) of TADA Act.

Perarivalan, who prepared the belt bomb, was found guilty under Section 3(3) of TADA Act, Section 302 of the IPC read with Section 109 of the IPC (abetment), Sections 326 and 324 of the IPC, Section 6(1) A of the Wireless and Telegraphy Act, Section 12 of the Passport Act, and Section 4(3) read with Section 4(1) of the TADA Act. The charge against Perarivalan was that he purchased two 9 volt cells to detonate the belt bomb.

While Santhan (A 2) was found guilty under Section 3 (3) of the TADA Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, Murugan (A 3) was found guilty under Section 3 (3) of the TADA Act, Section 14 of the Foreigners Act and Section 6 (1) (A) of the Wireless and Telegraphy Act. Sankar alias Koneswaran (A4), T.Vijayanandan (A5) and Ruban alias Sureshkumar (A6) were found guilty under Section 3 (3) of the TADA Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. Kanagasabapathy (A 7) was found guilty under Sections 3 (3) and 3 (4) of the TADA Act, IPC Section 212 and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, Athirai alias Chandralekha (A 8) under Section 3 (4) of the TADA Act, IPC Section 212 and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.

The others convicted are: Robert Pyas, Jayakumar, J. Shanthi, P. Vijayan, Selvalakshmi, Bhaskaran, Shanmugavadivelu alias Thambi Anna, Ravichandran alias Ravi alias Prakasam, Mahesh alias Surendran, Irumborai, S. Bhagyanathan, S. Padma, Sundaram alias Subha Sundaram, K.Dhanasekharan, Rangan, Vickey alias Vigneswaran and J.Ranganath.

Presspersons were not allowed inside the courtroom. They were stopped at a distance from the Court near the checkpost put up at the junction of EVR Periyar Salai and Avadi Road, a kilometre away.

A few points touching on the operative portions of the order were given to waiting presspersons by Mr. D. R. Karthikeyan, SIT chief.