Thenmuli Rajaratnam

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Sri Lankan Conflict
Background
Sri Lanka • History of Sri Lanka
Origins of the Civil War
Origins of the Civil War Black July • Riots and pogroms Human rights • Allegations of state terror Tamil militant groups
LTTE
LTTE • Attacks • Expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna
Current major figures
Mahinda Rajapaksa Velupillai Prabhakaran Karuna Amman Gotabaya Rajapaksa Sarath Fonseka
Indian Involvement
Operation Poomalai Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Indian Peace Keeping Force Rajiv Gandhi • RAW
See also
Military of Sri Lanka TMVP • EPDP Notable assassinations • Child soldiers This box: view • talk • edit

Thenmuli Rajaratnam (?? - 1991) was the assassin who killed Rajiv Gandhi, herself, and 14 others in a suicide bombing on May 21, 1991, in the Indian town of Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. An associate of The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the Tamil Tigers), Rajaratnam was also known as Gayatri and Dhanu. Her birth year has not been conclusively established.

[edit] The assassination

Rajiv Gandhi was campaigning in Tamil Naduɹ 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.^{[citation needed]}. 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, about 10,000 2 mm steel balls were embedded in the bomb. After garlanding Rajiv Gandhi, Rajaratnam evidently stooped to touch Rajiv's 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 Rajiv Gandhi. Upon appeal, the death sentence of only four of the twenty-six people was upheld.