Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
htm
A ‘Hexagonal Rashomon’
The Rajiv Gandhi assassination is a story within a story in the Pirabhakaran
Phenomenon. All the complex details have not come to the surface even
after a lapse of 10 years. However, if I short-circuit it, the Pirabhakaran story
would be incomplete, since Pirabhakaran was framed as the first accused in
the charge sheet produced by the SIT in May 1992 and later his status was
designated as an ‘absconding accused’.
The parallels between JFK and Rajiv assassinations are striking, if one
equates USA and Cuba to India and Sri Lanka respectively. USA has had a
troubling relationship with Cuba prior to JFK’s death, and the executive arm
of USA had tried to assassinate the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, through its
Intelligence agency CIA. India also experienced a troubling relationship with
Sri Lanka prior to Rajiv’s death, and the executive arm of India had tried to
‘neutralize’ the Eelam Tamil leader Pirabhakaran, through its Intelligence
agency RAW. Two additional features related to the puzzle of May 21,
1991 event deserve emphasis, which do not have parallels with the JFK
assassination. First one being, apart from Pirabhakaran, mutual antagonism
1 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
of Rajiv and the then Sri Lankan Sinhalese leader Premadasa was a
complicating factor in solving the Rajiv assassination case. Secondly, unlike
JFK, Rajiv did survive a humiliating assassination attempt by a Sinhalese
naval rating in Colombo four years before his tragic death.
Benzene analogy
I like to portray the Rajiv assassination as a ‘hexagonal Rashomon’, with six
angles. These are namely, forensic science angle, political angle, judiciary
angle, espionage angle, Eelam Tamil angle and Sinhalese angle. From our
lessons in high school chemistry, one can note that benzene is the optimal
example of the hexagon structure. Thus, the benzene analogy is apt here as
well. The six carbons of the benzene ring are linked with three double bonds
and three single bonds and exist in a resonating form. Similarly, the six
angles of the Rajiv assassination event can also be visualized as existing in a
double bond – single bond combination with each other. In the benzene
ring, it is not possible to point out which carbon is the leading carbon or for
that matter, one cannot de-link a carbon from the others without
destabilizing the entire structure. The alternating double bonds and single
bonds in the hexagonal ring of benzene also applies well to the six angles of
the Rajiv assassination. However, the Indian operatives in law enforcement
and judiciary, for reasons of convenience and for covering their lapses as
well as saving their butts, focused only on the LTTE angle. In this segment, I
focus on the forensic science angle of the assassination and cover the other
angles in the forthcoming segments.
Two Books
As of now, two books in English have appeared in India, which covers the
Rajiv assassination as their main themes. There may be a couple of others,
which were published in early 1990s in haste by hucksters to make a ‘quick
buck’. These ‘quickies’ are not worth intense scrutiny, since they were
published before the results of judicial inquiry. Thus, I would focus my
attention on the following two books.
Both books peddle their own spins. The first one was authored by a
journalist, with probable sponsorship (factual and/or financial) from the
Indian intelligence operatives. The foreword to this book was written by
Raja Vijay Karan, who was the Director of CBI, during the time of Rajiv’s
2 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
death. The second one was ‘authored’ by one of the political light-weights
and egotistical-loudmouths in India, who presumably delivered this book to
save his butt. Swamy was the Minister of Law and Commerce in the
lame-duck Cabinet of Chandrasekhar, at the time of Rajiv’s death. Thus,
both books deserve scrutiny for the information they provide, and in my
opinion, both are complimentary in their focus.
I’m not sure that until now, whether anyone else had taken the trouble to
compile this detailed list, though I felt that, considering the ‘secrecy
component’ attached to this assassination trail during its ‘Designation Court
phase in Chennai’, it was worth an effort. I provide below the list of
prosecution witnesses I had compiled. The abbreviation PW stands for
‘prosecution witness’. The list is in increasing numeral order. Missing
numbers denote that those witnesses did not receive any citation in the
judgement.
PW-18 C.S.Ganesh, Music Director
PW-19 D.Lakshmi Albert, Congress Party member & eyewitness on May
21, 1991
PW-20 Dr.Ramadevi, Congress Party member & eyewitness on May 21,
1991
PW-22 Sathyamoorthy, painter
PW-23 Bharathi, nurse & sister of Bhagyanathan (20th accused)
PW-27 Shanmugam, Congress Party member
PW-29 Maragatham Chandrasekhar, Congress Party MP for
Sriperumpudur
PW-32 Anusuya, Sub Inspector of Police, Security, on duty at the
Sriperumbudur meeting venue on May 21, 1991
PW-34 Sundararajan Murali
3 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
PW-35 Subramaniyan
PW-52 V.Thiagarajan, Superintendent of Police, CBI
PW-54 T.Soundara Pandian, worker at Ebenezer Stores, and employee of
M.Utham Singh (PW-56)
PW-56 M.Utham Singh, property agent and proprietor of Ebenezer Stores
PW-57 K.Thiagarajan
PW-58 S.Kalyan Krishnan, owner of Easwari Lodge
PW-59 S.Raghu, of Studio Memory Makers, St.Thomas Mount, Madras
PW-60 V.Kantha Raja @ Chokan, house owner and LTTE sympathizer
PW-61 T.Panneer Selvam, Kavitha Driving School
PW-62 P.Thirumathi Vimala, teacher
PW-63 K.Kottammal, employee of Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board &
owner of No.153, Muthamil Nagar, Kodungaiyur, Madras
PW-65 Mridula, a teacher & wife of Ranganath (26th accused)
PW-67 L.D.N.J.Wijesinghe, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sri Lanka,
& interceptor of LTTE wireless transmissions
PW-70 Sowmya Narayanan, staff member of Telecom Department
PW-71 M.Janarthanam
PW-72 T.Ramamurthy, journalist
PW-73 Devasena Raj, colleague of Padma (21st accused)
PW-74 Meena, wife of T.Ramamurthy (PW-72)
PW-75 N.Vasantha Kumar, artist who compiled the two volumes of
‘Satanic Forces’ for LTTE
PW-77 Sankaran @ Gnani, journalist
PW-78 T.P.Sitther, wireless operator, Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India
PW-81 Manivannan, videographer who made the tape of May 8, 1991
meeting addressed by V.P.Singh
PW-82 J.Duraisamy Naidu, owner of No.12, Eveready Colony,
Kodungaiyur, Madras
PW-84 S.Mani, wireless decoder
PW-85 D.J.Swaminathan, neighbor of Jayakumar (10th accused) at
Kodungaiyur
PW-86 M.Mariappan, houseworker of Shanmugham (diseased accused),
4 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
Kodiakkarai
PW-88 Delip Chordia, dealer at International Tyre Service, Mount Road,
Madras
PW-90 Rani, neighbor of Nalini (1st accused)
PW-91 N.Moideen, salesman at Hindustan Training Co., Royapettah High
Road, Madras
PW-93 I.Suyambu, news correspondent & eyewitness of May 8, 1991
meeting addressed by V.P.Singh
PW-94 A.K.Anbalagan, salesman at Poompuhar Handicrafts [Tamil Nadu
Govt. Sales Outlet], Madras
PW-95 R.Ravichandran, salesman at a showroom
PW-96 N.Sujaya Narayan, colleague of Nalini at Anabond Silicons
Pvt.Ltd., Madras
PW-97 N.Chokkanathan, a distant relative of Bhaskaran (14th Accused)
PW-98 Hashmuth S.Setal, owner of Barathi Cycle Company
PW-99 Esylen Mantel, of Plot No.14, Eveready Colony, Kodungaiyur.
PW-100 A.Ravindra Reddy, Manager, Komala Vilas Lodge
PW-102 P.Veerappan, a travel agent for passports & renewal of old
passports & visas
PW-104 S.Vaidyanathan, a clerk at Sriram Travels
PW-106 Y.R.Nagarajan, receptionist at Golden Lodge, Jaipur
PW-107 Ramasamy, car driver
PW-108 S.Santhana Krishnan, a friend of Hari Babu (deceased accused)
PW-109 Jayakumari, a Sri Lankan national who arrived in India in 1986
through ‘proper channel’
PW-111 Vijayendran, cinema actor
PW-114 C.Vamadevan, a Sri Lankan travel agent
PW-115 R.Ravi Srinivasan, a friend of Nalini (1st Accused)
PW-116 M.Girija Vallabhan
PW-117 R.Shankar, proprietor of Sriram Travels
PW-120 V.T.Sundaramani, father of Hari Babu (deceased accused)
PW-121 Dr.Cecelia Cyril, medical officer who conducted postmortem of
victims and examined the injured
PW-124 Dr.M.N.Damodaran, medical officer who conducted postmortem
5 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
6 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
7 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
8 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
9 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
PW-246 and PW-247) have been identified as those who carried out the
postmortem examinations of the victims, injured persons and alleged
assassin (Dhanu) and deceased accused (Hari Babu) and on May 21, 1991
and deceased accused (Sivarasan, Subha and five other accomplices) on
August 20, 1991. Dr.P.Chandra Sekharan, the then director of Tamil Nadu
Forensic Science Laboratory was identified as PW-280. One wonders why
not even one of these 20 qualified personnel in India who were at the proper
place at proper time have not bothered to present the forensic evidence to
their professional colleagues in an appropriate professional journal.
From my search, I have gathered ‘bits and pieces’ of forensic details, only
from the interviews granted by Dr.P.Chandra Sekharan to the Indian news
media. Thus, I wish to quote some details, available from his two interviews:
(1) Rediff on the Net (website) of October 14, 1999, and (2) The Hindu
Opportunities (hinduonnet website) of November 22, 2000.
10 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
On the miraculous Chinon camera and the film prints which recorded
Rajiv’s final moments, I entertain some doubts. I repeat, some doubts,
though I do not question the authenticity of the reported facts. I cite two
passages from Rajeev Sharma’s book, related to the Chinon camera and the
film.
11 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
for quite some before a Tamil Nadu police officer, Raghavan, chanced
upon it. Raghavan immediately opened the camera took out the reel
and handed it over to a policeman to get it developed without any
delay… Haribabu’s photos exposed the LTTE on May 24 when
Dhanu’s photograph was published by The Hindu. Next day, other
newspapers published another photograph, showing Dhanu holding a
garland. By now, Dhanu was the suspected suicide bomber.” [Book:
Beyond the Tigers, p.25]
Second passage:
“The official count of the injured persons went up to 22 two days after
the explosion when Jayabalan, an amateur photographer, got himself
admitted to a city hospital. He later told the SIT he remembered having
clicked just before the explosion.
‘I saw Haribabu, another photographer, surrounded by several women.
I also tried the same method from behind Haribabu and clicked once.
The next moment the blast occurred. I felt a severe shock and thought
for a second that there was an electric short circuit. Then something hit
my leg.’
As Jayabalan bolted, he was hit again, this time on the back of his
head. Blood started oozing out. ‘I cried for help and two policemen
standing by the dais came forward. But as they saw a body of a police
inspector, they rushed towards him’, he was quoted in the media as
saying. He reached home on his own. After two days when the city
became calm, Jayabalan handed over the camera with the film roll and
his stained clothes to the DIG at the police headquarters. He had
clicked at least eight frames. The unprocessed film he returned to the
police contained the very last moments of Rajiv’s life.” [ibid,
pp.37-38]
12 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
“We also determined that the explosive used was RDX, that is, the
research and development explosive developed in American
laboratories for military use. It is a semisolid explosive that is like
chappati dough and can be moulded to any shape. It is very dangerous,
but does not ignite until you heat it to 197 degrees. It explodes at a
detonating force of 29,000 feet per second and burns in one by
ten-thousandth of second. The instantaneous burning makes it detonate
at a very high velocity. It does not need any kind of shell or covering
like a grenade.
The people who made this belt-bomb had embedded it with 2 mm steel
pellets, roughly about 10,000 (we recovered about 6,000, and many
are still living with these pellets embedded in them) in number. The
idea of these pellets was that they would fly at a velocity of 29,000 feet
per second in all directions, and add to the damage done. So many
pellets were recovered from Rajiv’s body during the post-mortem and
are in the museum in Delhi now…”
“…In the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, I was handling the entire
crime scene examination from the beginning. I reconstructed the scene
of the blast with all the minute details and submitted a 100-page report
with nearly 100 illustrations and photographs to CBI and the Verma
Commission.”
Few queries
I summarise the observations made by Dr.Chandra Sekharan and my queries
as follows:
Fact 1: Following impact with the belt bomb, Rajiv Gandhi’s frontal face
bones were thrown 100 meters away. [That is a pretty long distance,
almost covering the two goal posts of a football arena!]
Fact 2: The explosive used in the belt bomb had a detonating force of
29,000 feet per second.
Fact 3: All those who were within the 3 meter radius of the center of
explosion had died, including the freelance photographer Hari Babu,
who was holding the Chinon camera above his head to click at
Rajiv.
Query 1: But Hari Babu’s Chinon camera lying in his chest did not suffer
any damage. The film inside the camera did not suffer any exposure
13 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
damage and the ten frames shot before the explosion were retrieved.
A miracle indeed, considering that the Chinon camera used by Hari
Babu was also held within the 3 meter radius, and that it (with all
certainty) was not protected with a hard outer layer made up of lead
or some damage resistant material.
Fact 4: It took six months for him to produce a full crime scene
reconstruction document. This could be interpreted as that, from
May 21, 1991 to end of November 1991, the complete details on
the identity and the activity of the alleged assassin Dhanu was not
reconstructed in full.
Query 2: If so, on what basis, the SIT personnel and the Indian press
released information on Dhanu’s identity and her links to LTTE
within days of the assassination (see, for example the above-cited
first passage of Rajeev Sharma’s book) and before November 1991?
Query 3: Did Dr. Chandra Sekharan carry out a confirmatory ‘blast-damage’
experiment, using the same explosive and dummy targets (within the
3 meter radius from the center of explosion) to see whether the
Chinon camera worn by the freelance photographer could not suffer
any damage during the blast and that the film contained in the
camera would not be exposed? If so, where did he carry out such an
experiment?
Fact 5: Dr. Chandra Sekharan has stated in his Nov. 2000 interview [after
nine years!], that he “submitted a 100-page report with nearly 100
illustrations and photographs to CBI and the Verma Commission.”
Query 4: Why he or none of his associates who were involved in the forensic
analysis of the victims of May 21, 1991 event have not bothered to
publish their forensic findings on such an important assassination, in
a peer-reviewed medico-legal journal of international standing
[which is abstracted in the National Library of Medicine’s, Medline
database], until now? Isn’t this a professional negligence and
discourtesy to other scientists?
14 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
termed the police version of the video clippings on the arrest of former
CM Karunanidhi a ‘manipulated version’. In a statement on Thursday
[i.e., July 5, 2001], Chandra Sekharan, who established the human
bomb theory on the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, contended that
the police version looked ‘cruder than a fake photograph’. He was
referring to a picture released by the earlier AIADMK government to
show Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy and TADA prisoner
Ravi together in order to imprison Swamy.
Commenting on the police clippings, Chandra Sekharan pointed out
that scene of Union Industry and Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran
punching CB-CID Mohamed Ali in the face was clearly a ‘repeated
animation’ as it ‘did not exhibit the natural movements of a human
hand, but did clearly demonstrate the rigid movement of an animated
arm’. He further observed that the clippings of the police appeared in
different versions and were manipulated digitally.
However, the government, denying Chandra Sekharan’s observations,
initiated disciplinary proceedings against him. It accused him of having
committed ‘certain omissions and commissions’ during his tenure as
director of forensic science. It ordered an inquiry by a senior IAS
officer into his actions.
An official release said: ‘It is not known whether it is a mere surmise by
P.Chandra Sekharan since there is no scientific explanation offered for
his conclusions. It is pointed out that by mere visual observation of a
video clipping, such an opinion cannot be given. For forming and
furnishing an opinion, examination is necessary of video morphing and
video animation by computer graphic experts.”
15 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
16 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
17 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM
The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 26 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part26.htm
18 of 18 12/15/2008 11:26 AM