I dream of an India, strong, independent, self-reliant, and in the forefront… in the service of mankind.” – Rajiv Gandhi
On the evening of 21st May 1991, these dreams were shattered by a deafening blast. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, after a series of strange delays and a last-minute U-turn back to the airport, arrived late at his election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. At 10:19 PM, as he moved towards the stage amidst a crowd of cheering supporters, an explosion ripped through the air.
When the smoke cleared, 18 people lay dead, including the man who was poised to become India’s Prime Minister again. The nation was plunged into shock and a state of national embarrassment. Unlike the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, where the killers were caught on the spot, this was a blind case. There were no culprits, no direct evidence, and no immediate answers.
This is the story of how India’s most complex and mysterious assassination was solved, a 90-day hunt that tested the country’s intelligence agencies to their absolute limit.
A Blind Case and a Race Against Conspiracy Theories
With no group claiming responsibility, the newly formed Special Investigation Team (SIT) was in a race against time. Headed by the astute IPS officer D.R. Kaarthikeyan, the team knew that if they didn’t find concrete leads soon, the case would be lost to a sea of conspiracy theories.
Initial intelligence was confusing. RAW’s chief told the Prime Minister that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had denied involvement through an undercover agent. The possibility of Kashmiri or Sikh militants was also ruled out. The SIT was starting from zero.
The Breakthrough: A Camera Amongst the Corpses
The first miracle came from an unlikely place. While looking at newspaper photos of the blast site, Dr. Chandrashekharan, the Director of Tamil Nadu’s Forensic Labs, spotted a camera lying amidst the debris. He knew this could be the key.
The camera belonged to a photographer named Hari Babu, who had also died in the blast. When the film was developed, one photo stood out. It showed a woman in an orange and green outfit, wearing glasses and holding a sandalwood garland. Standing next to her was a man in a white kurta, holding a notepad.
Forensic evidence had already confirmed the blast was caused by a human bomb wearing a denim belt pack. The green and orange threads found on the wires matched the woman’s outfit perfectly. This woman was the suicide bomber.
Connecting the Dots: From a Survivor to a Diary
The investigation started gaining momentum. A police sub-inspector, Anusuya, who had survived the blast, confirmed that she had tried to stop the woman, but Rajiv Gandhi himself had intervened, asking her to relax. The woman then bent down to touch his feet, and the bomb detonated. Anusuya also identified the photographer, Hari Babu, as the one who helped the woman get into the VIP area.
A raid on Hari Babu’s home uncovered a bill for the same sandalwood garland and, more damningly, a photo of the LTTE Chief, Prabhakaran. The LTTE connection was becoming undeniable.
The biggest breakthrough came from a routine traffic stop in Vedaranyam. A young man named Shankar Koneswaran was caught for over-speeding. His Sri Lankan Tamil accent raised suspicion. When shown the photos, he immediately identified the man in white as Sivarasan, a trusted commander of Prabhakaran. He confessed to being part of a 9-member hit squad led by Sivarasan. In his diary, the police found a crucial phone number belonging to a woman named Nalini.
The Conspiracy Unravels: The Black Tigress and the Mastermind
Nalini’s name had now appeared twice. After her photo was published, a neighbour called the police, confirming he had seen her with the group on the day of the assassination.
The trail led the SIT to a printing press owner, Bhagyanthan. After intense interrogation, he broke down. He confessed that Nalini was his sister and that she, along with her lover Murugan (alias Das), was part of the plot. He identified the bomber as Dhanu and a backup bomber as Shubha. Both were members of the LTTE’s elite female suicide squad, the “Black Tigresses.”
The SIT now had names and faces. In a dramatic operation at a Madras bus terminal, they arrested Nalini and Murugan. Murugan, an explosives expert, tried to commit suicide by swallowing his cyanide capsule—a mandatory accessory for all LTTE cadres—but was stopped by NSG commandos who were specially trained for this very scenario.
The “Why”: The Story of the IPKF and LTTE’s Revenge
With the key players in custody, the full motive was revealed. Why did the LTTE want to kill Rajiv Gandhi?
The answer lies in the tragic history of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The LTTE was fighting for a separate Tamil state against the majority Sinhalese government. India, particularly Tamil Nadu, had sympathies for the Sri Lankan Tamils and had initially trained LTTE cadres.
However, in 1987, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the India-Sri Lanka Accord and sent the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) to disarm the militants. The LTTE refused and declared war on the IPKF. A bloody, three-year conflict ensued, resulting in thousands of deaths on both sides.
By 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was out of power, but opinion polls strongly suggested he would win the upcoming elections. For the LTTE, his return meant the dreaded return of the IPKF to Sri Lanka. They decided he had to be eliminated.
The Hunt for Sivarasan: The Cunning “One-Eyed Jack”
The mastermind who executed this plan was Sivarasan, known as the “One-Eyed Jack” because he had a glass eye. He was a master of disguise and deception. The SIT launched a massive manhunt, but Sivarasan was always one step ahead. In his most audacious move, he travelled 350 km from Madras to Bangalore hidden in a secret chamber inside an oil tanker, passing through dozens of police checkpoints.
The Final Standoff and a Bureaucratic Tragedy
On 18th August 1991, after a 90-day chase, the SIT finally cornered Sivarasan and his remaining team in a small house in Konanakunte, Bangalore. The house was surrounded by NSG’s Black Cat Commandos, ready to raid with cyanide antidotes. They were determined to catch him alive.
But then, Indian bureaucracy failed catastrophically. The Bangalore Police Commissioner refused permission for an immediate raid, citing safety concerns. The CBI Director in Delhi ordered the team to wait for him to arrive. When he finally did, a cyanide expert declared the antidotes had expired. Despite Captain Ravindran of the NSG insisting they were still effective, the director ordered them to wait for a fresh batch from Gwalior.
After a fatal delay of 36 hours, the commandos finally stormed the house on the morning of August 20th. It was too late. They were met with the dead bodies of Sivarasan, Shubha, and their associates. They had all ingested cyanide. The biggest secret of the conspiracy had died with them.
The Aftermath: Justice and Lingering Questions
While the mastermind was dead, 26 conspirators were caught and sentenced to death by a TADA court. The Supreme Court later upheld the death sentence for only seven, including Nalini and Murugan, which was eventually commuted to life imprisonment.
The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a turning point. It forever altered the course of Indian politics, marking the beginning of the end of the Congress party’s single-party dominance. While the SIT’s investigation was a monumental success, Sivarasan’s death left many questions unanswered, ensuring that this tragic chapter of Indian history will forever be debated and analyzed.
The failure of security protocol in this case was a national embarrassment, raising questions about institutional accountability, a theme also seen in major financial scandals like the Vijay Mallya case.