Thenmuli Rajaratnam
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Thenmuli Rajaratnam (1974 ?? -1991) was the assassin who killed Rajiv Gandhi, herself, and 16 others in a suicide bombing on May 21, 1991, in the Indian town of Sriperumbudur, near Madras. An associate of The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the Tamil Tigers), Rajaratnam was also known as Dhanu. Her birth year has not been conclusively established. If she was born in 1974, she would have been only 17 years in May 1991, during the assassination. But the purported photo released by the Indian investigators suggest that she should be older than 17.
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[edit] The Assassination
Rajiv Gandhi was campaigning in Tamil Nadu for upcoming parliamentary elections when the bombing occurred. The last time Rajiv Gandhi had been in power, his government was instrumental in sending a peace keeping force into Sri Lanka to help enforce a peace accord, which earned the ire of various Tamil militant groups. The troops he had sent in 1987 had fought the Tamil separatist guerrillas and had reportedly committed various human rights abuses against the local Tamil population. It has been reported that Rajaratnam's personal motivation for becoming a suicide bomber occurred from her alleged rape by Indian soldiers during that time. Marginal opinion exists that she left LTTE after the rape incident by Indian soldiers, and had acted of her own accord. Others believe that the rape of Thenmuli is a myth perpetuated by the LTTE sympathisers.
Rajaratnam had the belt bomb with the explosive material in her lower back region and the power pack, two switches and the circuitry in front. One switch initiated the circuitry and the other activated the bomb. The explosive used was an RDX, or Research Department Explosive; about 10,000 2 mm steel balls were embedded in the bomb. After garlanding Gandhi, Rajaratnam evidently stooped to touch his feet and activated the explosive. Rajiv Gandhi must have tried to stop her; his face bore the impact of the blast.
Seven years later in 1998, an Indian court convicted twenty-six people in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi.
[edit] Dhanu
Dhanu has been posthumously glorified by LTTE, to represent the plight of the Tamil Sri Lankans at the hands of Sri Lankan and Indian soldiers during the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. Her story is frequently used among Tamils and to advertise to the women population to join the Tamil Tigers. (Almost 30% of the Tamil Tigers are female Cadre). Her alleged rape is seen to be an offence to the Tamil people as a whole and a source of passion for the Tamil Tiger Organisation.
[edit] References
D.K.Kaarthikeyan and Radhavinod Raju: Triumph of Truth - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination; The Investigation, New Dawn Press Inc, New Delhi, 2004, pp.128-133.
Subramanian Swamy: The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi - Unanswered Questions and Unasked Queries, Konark Publishers, New Delhi, 2000, pp.113-116, 128-129.
Rajeev Sharma: Beyond the Tigers - Tracking Rajiv Gandhi's Assassination, Kaveri Books, New Delhi, 1998, pp.17-21.
