NEW DELHI: A former Union Minister and dissident Congressman, Prof K.K. Tewary, has told the Jain Commission that he Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, and former Prime Ministers, V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar had “masterminded” the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Deposing before the one man commission that is inquiring into the conspiracy angle of the assassination, Tewary alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US, Israel’s Mossad and other international intelligence agencies were the brains behind the assassination and the LTTE was only the hand.
“But where is the head which controls the hand?” he said, adding that the assassination was “organized by foreign forces, in consultation with internal forces like V.P, Singh, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Chandra Shekhar.” They had been assisted by God man Chandra swami, the Janata Party chief, Dr. Subramanian Swamy and a former Haryana Chief Minister, (Om Prakash Chautala, he claimed. Rao’s government, according to Prof Tewary, had “surreptitiously” tried to wind up the Jain Commission recommendations and not implemented the AICC resolution on speeding up of the assassination probe. This showed that the Prime Minister had “‘something very vital to hide.” Claiming that he had enjoyed a “very close relationship” with Rajiv Gandhi, Prof Tewary said that the latter had complained to him about the lack of security provided to him by the then Chandra Sheikhar Government.
He said that though several senior leaders had been against Gandhi going on his ill-fated Tamil Nadu tour, Rao had felt that the tour program should not be changed. The question had been discussed at a meeting in Delhi three days before the assassination. This meeting was attended by six senior Congress leaders.
Rao’s view had prevailed as he was the senior most leader present, said Prof Tewary, adding that he had learnt of this from a former minister, P. Shiv Shankar, who had been present.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 4, 1995
