HC dismisses plea for reinvestigation of Rajiv case

The Madras High Court Bench here today dismissed a petition seeking reinvestigation of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice S Manikumar, dismissed the plea advising the petitioner that such writ petitions should be filed in the Supreme Court and not here.
Petitioner V Santhakumaresan, a city-based advocate, had contended that convicts T Sudenthendraraja alias Santhan, V Sriharan alias Murugan and A G Perarivalan were not involved in the assassination of the former prime minister and a reinvestigation would prove their innocence.
The three were sentenced to death but the Supreme Court commuted it to life imprisonment in February, 2014.

Petitioner's counsel W Peter Ramesh Kumar said CBI officer K Ragothaman had given an interview to a Tamil channel stating that video clippings and recorded tapes relating to the assassination case had not been handed over to the Special Investigation Team of CBI.
Besides, the Jain Commission report had raised suspicion over the role of Godman Chandraswami in the assassination, the petitioner submitted.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumpudur near Chennai during an election rally.