NEW DELHI: After 26 years, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre and the CBI to inform it about the investigation being carried out on the conspiracy behind the making of the bomb that had killed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The apex court said it wanted to know about the further investigation which was carried out on the issue after one of the convicts in the assassination case claimed that this aspect was not being probed properly.
“What is the result of the investigation on this? We want only this. What is the result of the re-investigation or the further investigation on this? Kindly address us on this,” a bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha said while slating the hearing for August 23. The hearing was based on a report submitted in a sealed cover in court.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by suicide bomber Dhanu at an election rally. Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were killed in the incident.
During the hearing, advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for convict A G Perarivalan, told the bench that several aspects, including the conspiracy angle behind the making of bomb, has not been probed properly. Perarivalan was held guilty of supplying the batteries for the belt-bomb worn Dhanu that killed Rajiv Gandhi.
Sankaranarayanan referred to the directions passed by the Jain Commission of Inquiry that had probed the conspiracy aspect of the assassination, as well as the status report of the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency which was set up to further investigate the leads thrown up by the probe panel.
The apex court had earlier commuted to life term, the death sentence awarded to Perarivalan in the case.
Sankaranarayanan argued that the government had set up the Jain Commission in August 1991 to examine the conspiracy angle behind the assassination of the former prime minister and the commission, in its report, had said that there were several aspects which needed further detailed investigation.
The apex court was hearing a plea by Perarivalan who has alleged that neither the CBI’s special investigation team, nor the MDMA headed by it, had proceeded with the probe in a proper perspective to bring the accused to book, since several top people were involved in it.