Rajiv Gandhi murder: Noose, hear my story


This is one of letters written by Murugan who is sentenced to death in Rajiv Gandhi murder case, under the caption, “Noose, hear my story” being serialized in Junior Vikaden . Translation done by L.Annadoure. 

| by Murugan

(December 07, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) While the entire Tamil land stand united and when it has arisen unanimously against implementing death sentence against us by hanging, Congress people alone are opposing such a move vehemently and angrily. ‘Would it be forgotten?’ ‘Would it be forgiven?’, asked they by raising their voice volubly. They have rallied around the members of the family who were affected by the death of their kin and made them demonstrate and sit at hunger strike.

Rajiv Gandhi - File Photo from the Hindu
Congressmen you who truly bore love and affection towards Rajiv Gandhi…Judicious Congressmen you who would not forget to stand steadfast to truth and justice I submit before you some pleas for my justice and for vindication of truth. I do not entreat you to become judges yourselves. At least what you erroneously believe to be true …even if there be a slight change as regards the bad opinion formed against me I would really feel happy.

While reading this letter please do not form a picture of me as one among the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi but think of me as an unfortunate man standing under the noose. One day, vindication for justice which are like two pans in weighing scale which is in imbalance would settle and rest aright in your conscience. The bolted and locked doors of your conscience will be broken asunder by the wails of our death cry. On that day you will come to believe us and realize that we were innocent.

I do place my pleas before you so as enable you to weigh and consider.

1.The president of Tamil Nadu congress had notified on 11.5.91 in the press that Rajiv Gandhi would not come for election campaign there after. That being so then who was the person who had caused the change in the plan, modified it and brought Rajiv Gandhi over to Tamil Nadu? Why the truth is being suppressed till this day? Is there not any Congress leader who was there at the time of visit of Rajiv Gandhi alive today? Don’t they have any caliber to speak the truth?

2.The proposal of the visit of Rajiv Gandhi over Tamil Nadu was kept a secret all along. How then Sivarasan had sensed the news when there was not a snippet of news in the news papers? Who was the black sheep who had informed the news to Sivarasan?

3.Why the venue of political campaign of Rajiv Gandhi which initially was proposed to be held on 21.05.91 in a conspicuous place in Sriperumbadur was abruptly changed to be held at a secluded place which is far removed from the township? Who were the persons who had caused the change in shifting of the place of meeting? Why then the learned persons who had been investigating the case had not enquired about the persons who had maneuvered and engineered such a change of place of meeting?

Murugan, accused in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case being taken in the van
 to the Government Hospital at Adukambarai
 near Vellore. A file Photo: S. S. Kumar ( The Hindu)
4.Rajiv Gandhi was not an ordinary leader. When such a leader came to attend a meeting it would have been usual to plan well in advance of the modalities, strict observance to protocol , to prepare a list of persons who were likely to come to meet him and the persons who would be allowed to garland and pay respect to him. On the contrary, why such plan was not drawn up ahead of the proposed meeting at Sriperumbadur?

5.Security check would be done on the persons who were likely to garland a National leader. At the Sriperumbadur meeting, why women police were not deployed for security check and why metal detectors were not procured and not used for the security checking? Who should have taken steps in that regard? Why did not action taken against them?

6.Why the personal security Guard of Rajiv Gandhi did not carry a revolver or gun? You may tend to pose a question as to how a bomb blast could have been averted with the assistance of a gun? Had the personal security guard perceived Thanu carrying a bomb around her waist he would certainly have shot her dead and prevented the blast from taking place. Political Leaders depend upon their own personal security Guards for their personal safety while attending public meeting. Such being so why the personal security Guard of Rajiv Gandhi had not taken with him a gun? Who were the persons who had prevented or were instrumental in having prevented the personal security Guard from carrying a gun?

7. Intelligence reports had already been current to the effect that there was a threat and an endanger to the personal safety and life of Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu. Despite such a report, how it came to pass that appropriate security measures had not been taken? Which force had wielded power to slight and brush aside the very intelligence report?

8. Woman Congress worker Kumudha Valli who had given a press interview had stated categorically that Thanu who came to kill Rajiv Gandhi came in the car belonging to Latha Priyakumar and she continued to state that Thanu was talking to Latha priyakumar and Latha Kannan at the place of bomb blast. She also had reiterated her statement before Verma Commission and Jain Commission. CBI, S.I.T had cited her name as one of the prosecution witnesses but they had omitted examining her. Why these vital points were neglected from taken note of? To save whom these aspects had been deliberately avoided?

9. The last photo among the photos said to have been taken by Haribabu who was found dead at the spot show apparently that some one was pushing Thanu forward from behind with his or her palm of hand over her back. Who was that person? Why CBI had not enquired that person who had maneuvered and engineered Thanu to move near Rajiv Gandhi? Who were the person who had prevented CBI from enquiring and examining the culprit and saved him from prosecution?

10. In the confessional statement said to have been deposed by Sivarasan and one said to have been written down and recorded by CBI would narrate that “ it became possible to go near Rajiv Gandhi only after paying Rs.750/- to a police man who was there at the place of meeting”. Were the aforesaid statement be true then why the CBI had not examined that particular Police man?

11.The car that brought Rajiv Gandhi to the place was said to have disappeared moments after the blast. How come the car that brought Rajiv Gandhi had sped away without seeing what happened to Rajiv Gandhi. Perhaps it could have been the wish on the part of culprits that in the event of Rajiv Gandhi being grievously injured he should not be taken to hospital. The particular culprit alone should have sent away the car the moment after the blast. Why the congress people who were affectionate and bore great love for Rajiv Gandhi fail to question about it? Would the car driver escape from the scene of offence in order to save himself and abandon Rajiv Gandhi dying?

12.The important question which I would like to pose is as follows. When a local leader comes to attend a public meeting,the workers and leaders of lesser importance in the party would flock to the local leader and like to be with him. But how it came to pass that from the moment the National leader Rajiv Gandhi got down from the car, walked towards the dais till the very incidence of blast no local congress leader was near or along with him ? When the local Congress leaders who would rush and like to collect near and to be with Rajiv Gandhi in other meetings knowingly had kept themselves away from him on that fateful day and why then Congress sympathizers fail to fathom the secret behind the conspiracy? Assume for the sake argument but such an assumption should not turn into reality and for myself I am far from even imagining such a thing but I could not quote any other exemplar so as to enable me to expose the forces behind the murder of Rajiv Gandhi.

Picture in your mind for a moment for the sake of imagination that a popular leader who comes to attend a meeting is being killed there by a bomb blast and imagine too that how many other leaders second in rank would be killed collaterally. But how it came to pass that the bomb blast had not even caused a slight injury on the persons of other congress leaders. Let us keep the casualty of death aside. How could it be possible that no congress leader who happened to be near Rajiv Gandhi had not sustained even slight abrasion or injury at the time the bomb had exploded? This mystery in reality shocked and caused a surprise in the minds of the laymen even. This aspect had disappeared from the minds of the people in the course of time. But this question fail to rise in the minds of congress men who shed tears at the very thought of Rajiv Gandhi’s death.

13.Why not even a single congress man had failed to raise a doubt about the mystery behind Lalith Chandasekar who got admitted into an hospital as though he was injured when in fact he had not been injured in the bomb blast and his Singalese friend’s abrupt disappearance from the scene of the blast and the CBI‘s deliberate avoidance in search after truth and failure to probe into the mysteries surrounding the murder?

14.The Chief Investigating officer had stated that just after the unfortunate incident the roll of film in the camera belonging to Haribabu first went into the hands of a press Reporter and that he had struggled hard in getting it back from him. If that be so it could be presumed that the scene of offence was not preserved and protected from being disturbed? Why cannot we a raise an accusation that the escape of real culprits were facilitated ?

15. There was no ‘Pottu’ mark on the forehead of Thanu in the photo said to have been taken by Haribabu at the scene of blast. But in the photos showing a woman said to be Thanu lying dead there was a Pottu’ mark on her forehead. So, there is every possibility of the woman figuring in the photo taken by Thanu and one lying dead at the scene of crime should be two different persons or it could be presumed safely that some one should have later placed the Pottu mark on the forehead of the woman lying dead there. Why no pursuit was made after truth ? Why the investigating officers had failed to take into consideration the evidentiary value of these photos in such an important case?

16. The aforesaid photos show a hand bag was hung on the shoulder of Thanu. That hand bag was not at all recovered from the scene of crime nor any enquiry was made after the missing hand bag. The hand bag was as an important piece of evidence. How did the hand bag disappear? How it had escaped the knowledge of the investigating officers and it had not occurred to them that the hand bag would have helped them in tracing the real culprit? Some articles found in the hand bag would have enabled the investigating officer to probe the matter at the right perspective. While this being so, why no body had cared about the contradictions?

Despite the aforesaid points which I have highlighted, some unsullied congress people may still believe what was said by CBI would be true. The same CBI officers who in order to protect and save some people had foisted a case against the erstwhile Prime Minister V.P. Singh which later turned out to be false. When the CBI officers would go to the extent of leveling trumped up charges against erstwhile prime Minster why they would not have implicated and made us scapegoats by exercising powers emanating from the draconian and barbarous TADA Act? There is every possibility for change of heart if cogitated from being in our position. Why you Good Sirs are refusing to do that? Whether your heart do not allow you to spare a few minutes in thinking about us when we have already lost 21 precious years from our lives and when we are being in heaviness of heart in jail?