By G.C. Shekhar
Watching ‘The Hunt’ on SonyLiv about the police manhunt for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins flooded me with memories of that fateful night on May 21, 1991.
Having witnessed the ghastly murder of not just Rajiv Gandhi but fifteen others (the total body count, I came to learn later) in person, I could not but sit back and recollect the happenings of that day.
Four of us had left for Sriperumbudur after a quick tiffin at the Woodlands Drive-in restaurant. My former colleague from Indian Express and then with Sunday Mail K. N. Arun had arranged the Ambassador and three of us from the ABP Group – Bhagwan Singh from Sunday magazine, K.T. Jagannathan from Business Standard and myself representing The Telegraph joined him. This was Rajiv Gandhi’s first election campaign for the 1991 Lok Sabha and Assembly (in Tamil Nadu) elections.
After Sriperumbudur, he was to address a meeting at Krishnagiri (along with AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa) and later campaign for Mani Shankar Aiyar at Mayiladuthurai and P. Chidambaram at Sivaganga the next day. None of us would have guessed that this would be Rajiv Gandhi’s last ever public appearance.
We had reached the venue well in advance by 6 pm since the meeting was to take place at 8 pm. The meeting venue was a dry lake bed with just a scattering of policemen. On spotting R.K. Raghavan (later to become CBI Director), who was the designated IG in charge of security, we walked up to him for a chat.
Raghavan said that Rajiv’s flight from Visakhapatnam had been delayed and that the meeting would start late (no time restrictions like now). As the discussion meandered towards election related violence, Raghavan pointed to the violence in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to contrast the peaceful election campaign in Tamil Nadu. Poor man did not know he would be witnessing the most horrid election related violence in a few hours – and that too under his own watch.
Since the meeting was delayed we had an early dinner at a nearby eatery and walked back to the venue. It was then Bhagwan Singh spotted Hari Babu, a photographer for Subha News Agency. Bhagwan asked him if he has accompanied any other news reporter. Hari Babu innocently pointed to a kurta clad bespectacled man, who on being notice quietly slunk away. Only much later it would unravel that he was Sivarasan, the notorious mastermind behind the assassination plot.
We then chatted up with Latha Priyakumar, daughter of Maragatham Chandrasekhar, the Congress candidate for Sriperumbudur. Latha contesting from nearby Arakonam Assembly seat sounded confident about both her and mother’s electoral prospects. She informed us that Rajiv Gandhi had arrived at Chennai and was enroute to the venue.
We wandered away from the jute-carpeted pathway leading to the dais and wound our way to the press enclosure in front of the stage. We were listening to the music programme of Shankar-Ganesh when we heard some fire crackers around 10 pm indicating that Rajiv Gandhi had arrived near the venue. Soon we saw Vazhapadi Ramamurthy, the TNCC President, rushing to the stage announcing that Rajiv Gandhi had arrived after garlanding the Indira Gandhi statue on the highway.
As he started shouting Rajiv Gandhi, inviting the “Vaazhga” chorus from the cadres, —it happened. A sudden booming sound was followed by a yellow fireball to our right side. And there was silence followed by chaos. Bhagwan and I sensed some mishap and rushed to the spot by running around the stage. Women cadres shouting and crying were running in the opposite direction. On the way, I spotted Hari Babu lying face up with his Chinon camera resting on his motionless chest.
At the same time, I saw Ramamurthy rushing down from the dais shouting “Thalaaivar Engey?” (Where is the leader?). Raghavan was putting out a small fire on the jute carpet. And then there was a loud shriek as a distraught Jayanathi Natarajan, then a Rajya Sabha member, shouted “He is here.” She was pointing to a leg lying at an odd angle but wearing Rajiv Gandhi’s distinct white Lotto shoes.
I went up to her and asked “Where is Rajiv?” She pointed to what remained of her tall handsome leader and started sobbing. Another state leader G.K. Moopanar, who was lighting up a cigarette behind the stage, had also come running and Jayanthi’s sob grew louder as Moopanar too asked the same question – where is our leader.
As I pointed out Rajiv’s remains to Bhagwan and Jagannathan, it was clear that Rajiv had been killed and the shock had slowly started to descend on us. Bhagwan suggested that we leave immediately and I started looking for Arun but he had gone missing in the melee. Without stopping for him, we rushed to our car and asked the driver to speed away.
Just as we were crossing the Indira Gandhi statue, the news had spread and stone throwing had started. Our driver skilfully evaded that and as we sped down the highway he asked us, “What was the big sound back there? Is Rajiv Gandhi all right?” Without realising its impact Bhagwan blurted out: “There was a bomb blast and Rajiv Gandhi has been killed.”
On hearing this, the shell-shocked driver froze at the wheel and his foot pressed down on the accelerator. The car started to gain speed. Bhagwan patted the driver and asked him to stop. After a short stop over, the driver regained his composure and our drive back to Bhgwan’s house in KK Nagar was uneventful. There Bhagwan reconfirmed the news through his contact at the state intelligence. Then we took turns to file our reports over the phone.
I decided to crash at Bhagwan’s house that night. As I removed my shoes, I could not but look at the Lotto logo and ponder – that I was probably the only other guy wearing Lotto shoes on that dreadful night.
Note: It was only through the deposition of Bhagwan Singh, the CBI was able to establish the link between Hari Babu and Sivarasan and unearth the latter’s exact role in the assassination. Both Bhagwan and Shekhar appeared as witnesses for the prosecution during the trial.
Author Bio: G.C. Shekhar is a senior journalist with over four decades of experience in reporting for publications like Indian Express, The Telegraph, India Today, Hindustan Times and Outlook.
