india

Updated: Nov 06, 2019 01:46 IST

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave four weeks to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-led Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) to file its latest status report on a probe into the larger conspiracy behind the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The direction was issued after the top court noted that the last MDMA report was filed about a year ago. As per that report, the agency had not received a response to several Letters Rogatory (LRs) sent to other countries with regard to the case.Letters Rogatory are requests for information sent to overseas authorities. Set up in 1998 on the recommendations of the justice M C Jain Commission of Inquiry, MDMA is tasked with the job of unravelling the deeper conspiracy behind the former PM’s assassination. The agency comprises officers from the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Revenue Intelligence, and other agencies.,

During the hearing, a bench of justices LN Rao and Hemant Gupta told additional solicitor general Pinky Anand that MDMA’s latest report should also include the status of the LRs sent to Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries. SC was hearing the petition of one of those convicted in the case, 46-year-old A G Perarivalan, in which he has asked the court to suspend his life sentence in the case till the MDMA’s probe into the larger conspiracy is concluded.

Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.

Perarivalan’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, told the bench his client’s role was limited to procuring nine-volt batteries, which were allegedly used in the improvised explosive device that killed Gandhi. Anand objected to this submission.

SC has already dismissed Perarivalan’s petition seeking a recall of the May 11, 1999 verdict upholding his conviction. It said the material brought on record before it does not inspire confidence to interfere with the verdict in which Perarivalan and three others were initially awarded the death sentence, which was later commuted to a life term.

According to the CBI, Perarivalan visited Jaffna in Sri Lanka in the first week of June 1990. His confession statement recorded under the then anti-terror law, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, had sufficient material to establish his role as an active conspirator.