K Ragothaman who investigated Rajiv Gandhi assassination case dies of COVID-19

Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer K Ragothaman, who was the Chief Investigating Officer (CIO) in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, died in Chennai due to COVID-19 complications. He was admitted to a private hospital last week after testing positive for the virus. He was part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the assassination of former Prime Minister Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur, during an election rally, by a female Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber.  

Ragothaman's last rites will be performed in his native land in Ulundurpet in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu. He was involved in the case for about 10 years. Seven persons--Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran, Robert Payas and Nalini were convicted and sentenced to death in the case. However, the death sentences of all seven were later reduced to life terms. Ragothaman also wrote a few books on the former prime minister and produced a documentary titled 'Human Bomb'. His latest book - ‘Rarest of rare case: Murder of an Advocate’ - was published recently. In his career spanning nearly four decades, between 1968 and 2006, the Rajiv Gandhi assassination probe alone took almost a decade. He was awarded the Police Medal in 1988 and President Medal in 1994.