More than two decades after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday said its special wing called Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Authority (MDMA) is still investigating the conspiracy angle behind the killing. The agency made this disclosure in a counter-affidavit to a petition filed by A.G. Perarivalan, a death row convict, who approached a special court here to monitor the investigation conducted by MDMA. Perarivalan claimed he would be affected by the outcome of its ongoing investigation, as the MDMA has been assigned to go into the larger conspiracy behind the killing.
N. Ranganathan, Special Public Prosecutor, CBI filed the affidavit before N. Dhandapani, Judge of the Designated Court, under the now-defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
No locus standi
Seeking dismissal of Perarivalan’s petition, the agency said, “He has no locus standi to file such a petition as he is not an aggrieved party and that too after he was investigated and tried and his appeals were heard and disposed of by Supreme Court.”
After receiving the counter, S. Ruben, counsel for Perarivalan said, “We submitted that Perarivalan has locus standi in this matter, as he is an aggrieved person. We will argue the matter at length on next hearing.”
Denying averments made in the petition filed by Perarivalan, the agency said, “That is the subject matter of investigation taken up by MDMA which is still under progress. Investigation made by MDMA is being monitored by the designated court.”
