Plot to kill Lankan President bared

COLOMBO, Dec 17: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), widely held responsible for the 1991 assassination of former Indian premier R...

COLOMBO, Dec 17: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), widely held responsible for the 1991 assassination of former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi, planned to kill Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga too and had even conducted two “dry run” operations before police busted the plot, an arrested leader of the killer squad has revealed.

Sinnathurai Muhundan, the LTTE man assigned to carry out the heinous task, has confessed details of the plot which resembled a Hollywood thriller involving a six-strong suicide squad which included a well-trained, highly motivated, beautiful woman in her 20s.

Just as Rajiv Gandhi’s killers gained close access to him using forged press identity cards, Muhundan’s men also posed as reporters during their 1995 “dry run” operations. Police, however, prevented the eventual execution of the sinister conspiracy when it arrested the key LTTE man in 1995 from a lodge here.

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Muhundan said a possible attempt on Chandrika at Trincomalee could not be accomplished as some of the cadre carrying explosives for the purpose were caught by Sri Lankan Navy.

According to his confessions, all six members of the suicide mission undertook rigorous training to carry out such attacks and were later sent to Tamil Nadu in 1993 despite tough security measures against the LTTE following Rajiv’s assassination at Sriperumbudur.

He said all six, including the woman, Ranjani Devi alias Ranji who joined the LTTE in Jaffna after her father was killed in 1989 during Indian Peace Keeping Force operations, crossed over to TN by boat posing as students on a holiday and went to an LTTE camp near Dindigul.

They were shown video films like `Operation Day Break’ and `Commando Leopard’ and given advanced training on how to attack the VIPs. Training was also given to operate a special anti-tank gun.

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On return, they were briefed by LTTE chief V Prabhakaran and Intelligence chief Pottuamman. The hit squad, after coming to Colombo, obtained forged press identity cards and covered two meetings addressed by Chandrika Kumaratunga at Eastern Trincomalee and Kandy in the South.

Both the meetings were well documented and the photographs were sent to Jaffna for evaluation. The prime suspect in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, one-eyed Sivarasan also gained access to the meeting posing as a reporter. Later Muhundan and Ranjani Devi, posing as man and wife, began cultivating a number of top officials especially Tamil, to gather details of the President’s movements. The duo was so successful in its efforts that it even explored possibilities to make Ranjani a TV news reader to get details about Kumaratunga’s movements in advance.

Muhundan’s suggestions to carry out a suicide attack on the President’s convoy in Colombo were not immediately approved by Pottu Amman and later their operation got delayed as the required explosives failed to arrive on time.

Meanwhile, Muhundan who was staying in Colombo, was successful trapped and caught by police at a lodge following a tip off and he later identified a woman suicide bomber who had exploded herself outside the defence headquarters here in 1995 as Ranjani Devi. Police, however, believe that Ranjani was still alive and operating in Colombo along with her surviving colleagues.