ALTHOUGH the United Front (UF) Government has given the Jain Commission of Inquiry a six-month extension, the question remains: will it be allowed to expose the conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and bring the probe to its logical conclusion? The commission has 'damning' evidence of a 'highly sensitive nature' in its possession.
The commission is currently preparing the interim report pertaining to one part of the terms of reference—the sequence of events since 1981 leading to the former prime minister's murder by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, 10 years later.
The evidence it has is not likely to be made public in the interim or even the final report, given the sensitive nature of the information involving, as one official put it, "delicate diplomatic relationships". In fact, the commission itself may suggest to the government that some chapters of the final report and the supporting documents be sealed and classified, to be opened after a certain period of time.
Significantly, the ongoing investigation indicates that the subcontinent may be fast emerging as a playground for unsavoury global games, a theatre where political assassinations can be organised by superpowers as part of long-term global strategies to tilt the regional balance of power. Security analysts believe that, if allowed to pursue the leads provided by important witnesses, the commission might even be able to rip asunder the shroud of mystery behind Rajiv's murder, go beyond the hand of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and identify the real brains behind the killing.
Among the theories gaining ground is that there was indeed an international conspiracy. Even a cursory analysis of the assassination makes it clear that by killing Rajiv Gandhi the LTTE lost India as one of its major bases for good. India became the second country in the world, after Malaysia, where the organisation was banned. (Even Sri Lanka hasn't taken the step.) So the LTTE would not have taken such a huge risk for such a small return. On the other hand, say experts, the LTTE gained so much in 'return' that it does not need anybody's help to face the onslaught of the Sri Lankan army. For the last six years, the Tamil Tigers have not only sustained the attack on the Sri Lankan army on their own but also consolidated their strength. "This could not have happened without huge outside support, which the LTTE must have got in return for killing Rajiv Gandhi," said an expert on LTTE affairs.
Sources confirm that the probe has shed light on links between some of the LTTE sympathisers and Indian players. Chandraswami's name tops the list. Investigators chanced upon one of the godman's diaries in which a Sri Lankan had acknowledged the receipt of Rs 10 lakh, apparently from the tantrik. The recipient is said to have been the right-hand-man to Gamini Dissanayake, the presidential candidate bumped off by the LTTE in 1994. Sources say the recipient was a regular informer of the LTTE and had tipped it off about Gamini's movements. "We are not talking about a political murder but about how a country is being manipulated," said a top official.
But analysis of such information is not going to be easy. The commission survived many attempts by the Narasimha Rao government to either wind it up or minimise its scope for probe through the judiciary. A major part of its tenure has been spent fighting legal battles to vacate stays and to ensure its survival. Even with the change of government, attempts to make the commission infructuous have not stopped.
Weeks before it got the extension on Congress President Sitaram Kesri's plea, Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramaniam had recommended the winding up of the commission, but it went unreported. He even made a noting on the case files saying that it was just wasting time. But Kesri got wind of the attempt and shot off a letter to Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda demanding an extension for the commission from March 1.
It was only then that Gowda shot down his cabinet secretary's proposal. In his missive, Kesri also attacked Rao, pointing out that "the inordinate delay had created serious misgivings about the attitude of the previous government to this sensitive issue". Observers say Kesri killed two birds with one stone, as the issue has emotional significance for Sonia Gandhi. Rao's hostile attitude towards the commission can be understood in the light of his long association with Chandraswami.
Insiders express apprehension that an anti-Jain Commission lobby, especially within the bureaucracy, is still strong and has Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's blessings. This section still feels that there is nothing more to the Rajiv assassination case and that had there been more truth in it, it would have come out long back. "There is nothing left in the probe now, but if the Jain Commission still thinks it will dig out the truth, I've nothing to say," says a top bureaucrat in the Cabinet Secretariat.
It may be recalled that Rao had appointed Chidambaram as minister in charge of the investigation into the assassination. But ultimately Chidambaram ended up approving the filing of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court seeking to restrict the commission's scope of inquiry, which was turned down. Although the minister made a noting on the file that the SLP had the approval of the prime minister, in effect making Rao responsible for it, 10 Janpath took it seriously when Outlook reported it.
But the commission is also not above criticism. It has been accused of wasting time in recording lengthy and at times irrelevant and baseless statements. For instance, M.V. Thomas, a retired director general of police of Tamil Nadu, informed the commission that the KGB and PLO were involved in the assassination. The basis of his claim: spiritual vision and some "independent investigation". Thomas was called to depose.
With growing pressure from all sides to expedite the probe and deliver the goods, Justice M.C. Jain has a moral as well as legal obligation to nail the guilty. To prove his detractors wrong he will have to come up with concrete answers. Very soon.
