NEW DELHI: Rajiv Gandhi was not wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time of his assassination Suman Dubey a close aide of the former Prime Minister told the Verma Commission of inquiry on Friday.
Dubey who was an eyewitness to the human bomb blast in which the former Congress (I) President was killed categorically stated that Gandhi was not wearing a bulletproof jacket at the time he alighted from his eight-seater aircraft hours before his assassination.
Posing as a commission witness the “aide and companion” of Gandhi as Dubey has described himself in his affidavit was examined on his observations in the security lapses and meeting arrangements at Sriperumbudur.
Dubey told the Commission counsel Gopal Subramaniam that Gandhi’s car went close to the stage where Gandhi was to have addressed his public meeting without it being stopped by anyone or it being checked.
He recalled that the dias was well-lit but there were no lights on the back side of the stage. “I remember having seen only the silhouette of the palm trees behind the stage” he stated.
Dubey said he was standing near Gandhi’s car and talking to journalists Neena Gopal and Barbara rosette when the explosion occurred.
“I ran to the dias thinking Gandhi would have reached there but on not finding him there I checked up in the back side of the stage” he said.
Dubey said he met the Tamil Nadu Congress (I) Party president K Ramamurthi on the stage and when Dubey inquired about Gandhi “Ramamurthi could not speak. He just pointed his finger towards the bodies on the ground.”
Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1992
