Rajiv Gandhi assassination: New allegations storm India

Kolkata, Nov 2:

created a new controversy in India as a book accused

Governor MK Narayanan of misplacing a crucial video which might have revealed an unheard story regarding the assassination of the former Prime Minister.

However, Narayanan on Friday, Oct 2 refused to accept allegations against him saying, "I don't know.... I think he wants to sell his book." Narayanan's remarks came in response to a question on K Ragothaman's claim in his book - Conspiracy to kill Rajiv Gandhi - From CBI files.

Ragothaman, who was the head of the investigating team of the assassination case, shocked many with his charges against Narayanan who the chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) at that time.

The video tape allegedly had captured "human bomb" Dhanu at the Sriperumbudur venue where Rajiv Gandhi was killed on May 21, 1991.

The video tape allegedly showed Dhanu's presence at the venue prior to the former Prime Minister's arrival.

"The assassin gang, as per our investigation, was very much in the sterile zone for more than two and half hours waiting for its target," wrote Ragothaman in his book.

The allegations of the author raised fingers at Tamil Nadu police who had easily got away with the claim that Dhanu had sneaked into the sterile zone after Rajiv Gandhi's arrival at the venue around 10 pm.

The author, in his book also, asserted that "the tape taken by the IB officials was the original one and that the video given to the local police was a substituted one."

The former IB chief also informed that DR Karthikeyan, the then chief of Special Investigation Team (SIT), had allowed Narayanan to go scot-free after conducting a preliminary investigation regarding the missing video.

In his book, the author leaves a question for Narayanan saying, would Narayanan have dared "to damage the goal of the Congress party, irrespective of his personal affiliation to Rajiv Gandhi's family?"

According to Ragothaman, the crucial video tape was suppressed as it could have exposed those people with whom Dhanu had interacted at the venue.

Responding to Ragothaman's charges, Narayanan said, "There was whole inquiry... And everything is over... And someone writes a book... There is nothing new."

OneIndia News