CHENNAI, JAN 29: The CBI today sought permission of a TADA court to further inquire into the May 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur near here.In a petition filed before TADA judge Vadivel Rathnam Topermit the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), constituted by the BJP Government within the CBI, it said the permission was sought in view of the additional material that had come to light by the Jain commission.The commission had been constituted by the erstwhile P V Narasimha Rao Government to inquire into the circumstances that led to the assassination of the former Prime Minister, while he was walking up to the dias to address an election meeting on May 21, 1991.Following the suggestion by the commission for a further investigation into the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, the Vajpayee Government last year had prepared an Action Taken Report (ATR) indicating the steps the Government proposed to initiate in the wake of Justice Jain's recommendations.In all, 26persons, including two hard-core LTTE members Nalini and her husband Murugan, were awarded capital punishment by the then TADA judge P Navaneetham. The Supreme Court has since stayed implementation of the order on Special Leave Petitions by the convicted persons.In its petition, the CBI submitted that the police had filed a report under Section 173(2) CRPC on May 20, 1992 against 41 accused, including the 26 who had been awarded the death sentence.Three of the accused--LTTE Chief V Prabhakaran, LTTE's Intelligence wing chief Pottu Amman and the organisation's deputy chief of its women's Intelligence wing Akila--were absconding, while 12 were since deceased, the CBI contended.The investigating agency pointed out that the designated court had heard the case against those arrested and charged with murder, while the case against the absconders was still pending.The MDMA had approached the Madras High Court for revival of the designated TADA court, which had ceased to function after the 26 had beenconvicted.
