Santhan, Freed In Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, Dies In Hospital

The released convict in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan passed away on Wednesday at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, news agency ANI reported citing Hospital officials. 

Santhan, a Sri Lankan national was one of the six convicts released by the Supreme Court in 2022, in the assassination case of former Indian Prime Minister. 

Released convict in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case, Santhan passes away at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai: Hospital officials

— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2024

According to a Hindustan Times report, the Union Ministry of External Affairs' Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) issued an emergency travel document to 56-year-old Santhan, allowing for his prompt repatriation to Sri Lanka last week.

Santhan, who was being held in a special camp at Tiruchy Central Prison, was supposed to be taken by officials to the international airport for deportation. Following Santhan's request, the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission issued a temporary travel document, and the FRRO granted him an exit permit. 

READ | SC Orders Release of Six Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Accused Including Nalini, RP Ravichandran

In May 1999, the Supreme Court acquitted 19 of the 26 accused in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, upholding the death sentences of Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, and Nalini and reducing the death sentences of Payas, Ravichandran, and Jayakumar to life imprisonment.

All seven were apprehended in the weeks and months following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, which was carried out by a suicide bomber affiliated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Reports citing CBI records said that Santhan arrived in Tamil Nadu in April 1991. He was described as a member of the LTTE's intelligence wing, and in February 1988, LTTE mastermind Sivarasan suggested that he study in Madras (Chennai).

In February 1990, Santhan was admitted to the Madras Institute of Engineering Technology, with the LTTE covering his expenses. Santhan faced charges for his close ties to Sivarasan in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.

According to the HT report, Perarivalan, who spent nearly three decades incarcerated alongside Santhan, called him a person "who lives in his own world".