Rajiv panel gets year more

However, the Home Ministry decided to give it an extension after consulting the CBI 8212; which heads the MDMA 8212; and officials from intelligence agencies, including the IB, RAW and Revenue Intelligence.

The MDMA was set up by the BJP government in 1998 to take the Jain Commission of inquiry to its logical end. The Commission had come across various leads, which included bank transactions of the LTTE8217;s frontal outfits, before and after the assassination, and movement of arms meant for LTTE during that period. The bank transactions included those in the now-defunct Bank of Credit and Commerce International.

The links of key accused Sivarasan 8212; who was found dead on the outskirts of Bangalore by the Special Investigation Team 8212; as well as the role of controversial Godman Chandraswami were also recommended for further investigation. According to sources, MDMA had also unearthed at least 50 bank transactions allegedly at the behest of Chandraswami.

Since the MDMA was set up, it has sent Letters Rogatory legal letters of request for help in probe to 23 countries to enable the probe. Only five have responded so far.

The Congress had always demanded an extension of the MDMA to give adequate time to complete its probe. In fact, a delegation of the party, led by HRD Minister Arjun Singh, met then deputy PM L.K. Advani a few months ago and had sought his intervention in the matter.