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Judge gave me inspiration to carry on, says Rajiv case sleuth

"Justice J S Verma has been my source of strength ever since I accepted the task of bringing to book the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi," D R Karthikeyan, chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation's Special Investigation Team which probed the case, said in Madras.

"You are in the pursuit of truth and when your conscience is clear, go ahead," the retired judge used to say and encourage him whenever somebody tried to politicise the case and attribute motives, Karthikeyan said, recalling his experience as SIT chief.

Talking to newsmen at the SIT headquarters in Madras, he claimed that this was the most transparent investigation ever done in the country.

When the then Union government sought his consent before assigning him the crucial task, his first condition was that there should not be any political interference or any play of politics .

"Some feeble attempts were made but I said a firm no," the SIT chief added without elaborating.

Asked about criticism that he had failed to pursue leads which pointed to a particular political party and its leaders, Karthikeyan dismissed them as wild charges and said: "The task before the nation was to capture the killers and I stood steadfast"

"It is ingratitude to say that I had left out somebody," he added.

On the various theories being floated before the Jain Commission probing the conspiracy aspect of the assassination, he said it was not the right forum to talk about.

"Whatever problems I have with the Commission, I will raise them there," he added.

Karthikeyan said though he received kudos from various quarters during the relentless pursuit against the accused, he would like to quote the good words for him by LTTE militants Dixon and Sivarasan.

Dixon, an expert wireless operator, who killed himself when his Coimbatore hide-out was raided, left a note to him saying: "Mr Karthikeyan, I appreciate your efficiency." The militant, who had destroyed all the papers and currency notes in his possession, left this lone note before ending his life, Karthikeyan said.

Karthikeyan said similarly, Sivarasan who had masterminded the assassination, had reportedly told Mridula Ranganath, wife of the house owner, at his Konanakunte hide-out that "the CBI is chasing us like dogs. They are not allowing us to stay in a particular place for more than a hour."

Fortyeight hours after he said this, Sivarasan, the stand-by assassin Subha and five others were trapped in the hideout and they committed suicide.

Karthikeyan also showered praise on the media stating that but for them, the SIT could not have mobilised the entire population, especially the people of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in its relentless pursuit of the accused.

Completion of the investigation was truly a national effort in which the media played a critical role, he said and added that Rajiv Gandhi's death was avenged by the verdict in the case.

UNI

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