Santhan, one of the six convicts who were freed in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by the Supreme Court in 2022, died on Wednesday morning at a hospital in Chennai. Santhan alias T Suthendiraraja, a Sri Lankan national, served over 20 years in jail and was kept at the special camp near the Tiruchirapalli Central Prison after his release. Santhan was set to be deported to Sri Lanka after an order was issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Chennai last week, but, he was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital (RGGH) for treatment for a kidney-related ailment. Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: A total of seven individuals were convicted by the Supreme Court in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, in 1999n namely - A G Perarivalan, Nalini, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, V Sriharan alias Murugan, Robert Payas, Jayakumar, and Ravichandran alias Ravi. On May 21, 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE woman suicide bomber when he was in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu to attend a rally before elections. Dhanu, who was identified as the suicide bomber, went close to Gandhi during the rally and bowed as if to touch his feet, before detonating the bomb she was wearing inside her salwar kameez. Apart from Gandhi, nearly 15 others were killed in the blast, and several were injured. His killing was seen as a response to his move to send the Indian Peace Keeping Force to Sri Lanka in 1987 to disarm the Tamil rebels. A total of 26 people of the 41 arrested in the case were sentenced to death by a TADA court in 1998. In May 1999, the SC freed 19 of them, while upholding the death sentences of Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, and Nalini, and commuting the death sentences of Payas, Ravichandran, and Jayakumar to life. Nalini’s death sentence was commuted in 2000, based on an appeal made by Sonia Gandhi and a recommendation of the Tamil Nadu government. The other three sentences were commuted in 2014. But a long legal battle involving the state government, Governor, the Union government, and the President of India, took place for the release of Perarivalan. Santhan’s role in the assassination case: According to the CBI chargesheet, Santhal was described as a member of the LTTE’s intelligence wing and came to Tamil Nadu with Sivarasan. In February 1988, it was suggested by Sivarasan that Santhan continue his studies in Madras (Chennai), and subsequently, he secured admission at the Madras Institute of Engineering Technology in February 1990. His expenses were met by the LTTE. He was later charged for his close association with Sivarasan in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi. According to Perivalan, who spent nearly three decades with him in prison, Santhan was someone "who lived in his own world”. “He never spoke to anyone. He was an excessively religious man who regularly performed puja and rituals, and would sit in the prison temple for almost the entire day,” Perarivalan said. “I think he never responded to letters from his relatives in Sri Lanka, he might have severed all his ties with relatives,” he said. According to E Theranirajan, Dean of RGGH Chennai, Santhan suffered a cardiac arrest around 4 am on Wednesday but was 'revived' following a CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) procedure. He wass given an oxygen supply and was put on a ventilator. However, Santhan did not respond to treatment "and he died at 7.50 am today," he said. "A post mortem will be conducted..legal arrangements are underway for the body to be sent to Sri Lanka," he added. Among the four Sri Lankan convicts in the case Santhan was the only one who expressed his wish to return to the country, after he was released from jail. The other three including Murugan, Payas and Jayakumar had immediate relatives in European countries and therefore sought to be with them.
