CBI to question LTTE financier in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

Initiating a fresh probe angle in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the CBI is now preparing a questionnaire for LTTE financier Kumaran Padmanathan on the basis of decade-old findings of MDMA, which has been investigating the conspiracy behind the former Prime Minister's killing.

Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), which has been granted another extension by the government despite noting for closure of this unit, has begun the work of preparing questions that would be sent to Sri Lanka where Padmanathan alias 'KP' is being questioned by the Lankan security, official sources said.

Padmanathan, the alleged financier and a key accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was arrested in a Southeast Asian country and brought to Sri Lanka. Declared as one of the most-wanted terrorists by Interpol, he is suspected to be a key person in LTTE's global network for procuring weapons and other equipment.

Jane's Defence Intelligence Review, the premier London-based defence magazine, had reported that the LTTE had two international wings -- KP Department and Aiyanna Group -- that were engaged in global terrorist activities.

The CBI had been on KP's trail for over a decade and its team had travelled to New Zealand in 2002. The agency questioned three Tamil nationals there after securing permission from authorities in that country.

The term of MDMA, which is headed by a CBI official and comprises officers from IB, RAW and Revenue Intelligence, ended on May 31 this year and was given a post-facto approval. The Jain Commission, which went into Gandhi's killing, had come across various leads which included bank transactions of the LTTE's frontal outfits before and after the assassination and on movement of arms meant for LTTE during that period.

The MDMA has also been focusing on bank details of Padmanathan. India has taken up the matter with Germany to get the bank details of KP, who is alleged to be a major gun-runner for the terrorist group.

The investigators want to know the bank details of KP and some more people, including some Indians who were alleged to have hatched the conspiracy to kill Gandhi.

The former Prime Minister was assassinated on May 21, 1991 when an LTTE suicide bomber blew herself up at an election rally in Tamil Nadu. KP is believed to be 'the chief arms procurer' for the LTTE and also in-charge of collection of finances for the banned outfit outside Sri Lanka.

The CBI had approached nearly 23 countries with letters interrogatory for Padmanathan along with its findings against the terrorist leader.