No clarity on Rajiv Gandhi assassination probe; CBI sends reminder

New Delhi: CBI has sent another reminder to the Home Ministry seeking extension to its multi-disciplinary monitoring agency, probing the larger conspiracy in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, as the NDA government is mum on the fate of the team whose term expired on May 31, 2015.

The MDMA is headed by a CBI official and comprises officers from IB, RAW and Revenue Intelligence. It is for the first time in the 17-year history of MDMA that no clarity has been given by MHA even seven months after its term ended.

The last extension of one year was granted on May 31, 2014. Sources said no final word has come from the Home Ministry whether to keep the agency functioning or wrap up the probe. The agency written to MHA in this regard last year.

Now it has sent a reminder recently. Earlier, also there have been delays in giving extensions but these have been granted post-facto but it has never been so late, they said. The sources said MDMA is probing the larger conspiracy involved in the assassination of Gandhi on May 21, 1991 by LTTE.

They said that the role of Sri Lanka national Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, who is alleged to be a key actor in the conspiracy, is under investigation. KP is believed to be the man responsible for arranging arms for LTTE and for the assassination of Gandhi, they added.

KP, the alleged financier, was reported to have been arrested in a Southeast Asian country nearly four years ago and taken to Sri Lanka. CBI has been on his trail for nearly 15 years and its team had travelled to New Zealand in that regard in 2002.

The Jain Commission, which went into Gandhi's killing, had come across various leads, including bank transactions of the LTTE's front organisations before and after the assassination and on the movement of arms meant for LTTE during that period.

The Commission headed by retired judge Milap Chand Jain had recommended to set up MDMA to probe several areas he could not probe as he had to wrap up its probe in 1998. The progress in the case is being monitored by designated TADA court in Chennai.