Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and the downfall of LTTE

In retrospect, everybody is sensible. One will, nevertheless, be by no means positive what future would have had in retailer for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran had he not ordered the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

May 21, 2021, will mark the thirtieth anniversary of a well-planned and well-executed grotesque killing that snuffed out the life of an Indian chief believed to be on a comeback path to energy.

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Though the LTTE and Prabhakaran stored denying its function in the suicide bombing, the killing sealed his destiny.

It was Dharmalingam Siddharthan, a former Sri Lankan Tamil MP, who was amongst the first to understand the heavy value Prabhakaran would pay for the killing.

“Ezharai Sani [a bad phase of life, according to astrology] will go away for everyone after seven-and-a-half years,” Siddharthan instructed me a way back. “I can say without hesitation that Ezharai Sani gripped Prabhakaran on May 21, 1991, and it will not leave him until he dies.”

Looking again, Siddharthan turned out to be on the dot.

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None of this is able to have been evident to the LTTE chief when he, alongside along with his intelligence boss Pottu Amman, determined to cast off Rajiv Gandhi, fearing that he would possibly once more dispatch Indian troops to Sri Lanka.

Sivarasan will get the process

Once the process of killing Gandhi was handed over to the LTTE intelligence operative identified by his nom de guerre Sivarasan, the Tigers determined that the latter mustn’t get blended up with the current LTTE community in Tamil Nadu.

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The LTTE knew that Indian safety businesses have been conscious of virtually all its activists in the State, together with these working for the intelligence wing.

Accordingly, sooner or later in September 1990, a ship full of Tamil civilians fleeing the warfare in Sri Lanka’s northeast reached the Tamil Nadu coastal city of Rameshwaram.

Two males and a lady from the group met Indian officers and registered themselves as refugees however moved on to Chennai, saying that they had buddies in the metropolis.

A number of days later, one other boat of Tamil refugees additionally reached the Tamil Nadu coast. As in the first occasion, two males and a lady registered themselves as refugees and mentioned they, too, would favor to dwell with buddies in Chennai.

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The two teams rented out separate homes in Chennai, telling those that cared to ask that they have been fortunate to be away from the warfare.

The six Sri Lankans didn’t know themselves however their arrival in Tamil Nadu marked the unleashing of a lethal plot Prabhakaran had drawn as much as assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.

Sivarasan, generally known as “One-Eyed Jack” as a result of of a glass prosthesis he wore in place of a watch he misplaced in a battle, realised quickly that the males despatched prematurely as “refugees” weren’t sufficient for the powerful job he had readily available.

By then, two LTTE intelligence operatives, Nixon and Kanthan, additionally reached Tamil Nadu. After a short keep in the State, Sivarasan went again to Sri Lanka and returned to Chennai in January 1991.

Sacking of the DMK authorities

It was the month the Indian authorities sacked the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) authorities in Tamil Nadu for turning a blind eye to LTTE actions and positioned the State beneath direct federal rule.

After taking permission from Pottu Amman, Sivarasan telephoned Sathasivan Krishnakumar, alias Kittu, the London-based LTTE consultant, and sought introduction to a dependable Indian contact in Chennai. Sivarasan didn’t realise that this was a blunder. Since the June 1990 assassination of Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) chief K. Pathmanabha and his associates in Chennai and the straightforward escape of the killers, Indian safety businesses had stepped up surveillance on LTTE activists in Tamil Nadu.

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Kittu telephoned an Indian nationwide, Muthuraja, who was near the Tigers, and requested him to assist out a brand new group of LTTE members from Sri Lanka. Kittu cautioned Muthuraja in opposition to talking to anybody about the new arrivals.

Unknown to Kittu and Muthuraja, the latter was beneath the watch of the Intelligence Bureau. The intelligence officers have been shocked by Kittu’s instruction and surmised that one thing sinister was afoot.

Even as a crackdown on the LTTE adopted the sacking of the DMK authorities, Muthuraja launched Nixon to some Indians who ended up enjoying a key function in the assassination. Muthuraja additionally launched one other LTTE intelligence operative, Murugan, to an Indian household.

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This is when Muthuraja instantly disappeared sooner or later. He was being shadowed in Chennai by Indian safety businesses however gave the slip one night at Egmore. It was later learnt that he had left for Sri Lanka, ostensibly on the request of Pottu Amman.

Muthuraja, nevertheless, by no means reached Sri Lanka. His boat sank in the sea after being hit by a Sri Lankan naval vessel. Believing he died, the LTTE honoured him. But Indian safety businesses consider that Muthuraja didn’t die. The Sri Lankan Navy took him into custody after his boat collapsed.

Prabhakaran, in the meantime, requested an LTTE member, Kasi Anandan, to satisfy Rajiv Gandhi to convey his greatest needs for the upcoming normal election in India. The assembly passed off in New Delhi on March 5, 1991.

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Some days later, a Sri Lankan Tamil banker based mostly in London additionally referred to as on Rajiv Gandhi with a message that the Tigers have been desperate to make up with the Indian chief. Both conferences have been meant to make the Indian safety brass consider that Prabhakaran was keen to bury the previous and begin a brand new chapter with New Delhi.

Arrival of Dhanu

Sivarasan, who had once more gone again to Sri Lanka, returned to Tamil Nadu by sea early in May 1991 with Dhanu, the suicide bomber. They landed in the coastal city of Vedaranyam and left for Chennai by bus.

Within 10 days of their arrival, Dhanu and a companion, Shuba, wrote to the LTTE management: “We are determined to attain our objective.”

By now, the Intelligence Bureau had intercepted a pair of complicated, coded radio messages from Tamil Nadu to Jaffna. The IB headquarters in Delhi was pressed to interrupt the code.

One of the LTTE messages, decoded after Rajiv Gandhi was killed, was a revealing one-liner from Sivarasan to Pottu Amman: “Nobody [in India] knows about our operation.”

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Another specific message, intercepted on May 7 however once more deciphered after Rajiv Gandhi had been killed, was a vow by Sivarasan: “If I return to Jaffna, it will be as Pottu Amman’s man, having achieved the incredible feat of assassinating a world leader.”

Sivarasan, who pretended to be a journalist when it suited him, came upon from some Congress get together functionaries about Rajiv Gandhi’s election rally in the small city of Sriperumbudur, close to Chennai, on May 21, 1991.

A rehearsal

To be certain that the whole lot went nicely, the LTTE had carried out a rehearsal at an election rally of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh in Chennai. As Singh was leaving, Dhanu walked as much as him and touched his ft as a mark of respect for an elder.

The complete train was recorded on video and seen by the LTTE many occasions to verify if there have been any flaws. Clearly, there have been none.

On May 20, 1991, the LTTE killer squad watched a Tamil film at a cinema corridor in Chennai. The subsequent night, the group proceeded to Sriperumbudur and was met by a younger Indian photographer, Hari Babu, who had no clue about the deliberate assassination.

This is one of the pictures taken by freelance photographer Hari Babu, who died in the blast at the venue of Rajiv Gandhi’s May 21, 1991 election rally in Sriperumbudur, that proved very important in pursuing numerous leads. In this image, the girl ready with the garland is Dhanu, the suicide bomber. Flanking her are Latha Kannan and her daughter Kokila. The man in the {photograph} is Sivarasan.  
| Photo Credit:
The Puucho Archives

At the rally, Dhanu was armed with a sandalwood garland — and a lethal suicide vest which was hidden by a loose-fitting shiny orange salwar-kameez. When a policewoman tried to query Dhanu after seeing her close to the VIP enclosure, Hari Babu intervened to say she would garland Rajiv Gandhi. Sivarasan, wearing a white kurta-pyjama, stood close to the dais. Eventually, when Rajiv Gandhi made his method in the direction of a ready crowd, Dhanu moved near him. The identical policewoman tried to push her again. But he stopped her and remarked: “Let everybody get a chance!”

Dhanu put the garland round him and bent down as if to the touch his ft. But she by no means bought up. She switched on the toggle swap hooked up to her suicide vest, triggering a horrible blast that ripped by way of her, Rajiv Gandhi and 16 others.

The writer is a Sri Lanka watcher and has written a biography of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran