Officer and a gentleman

June 22, 2012 01:24 am | Updated July 12, 2016 05:10 am IST

Anyone who had the good fortune of even a fleeting acquaintance with Radha Vinod Raju is sure to have been affected by his sudden passing away, yesterday.

I learnt only a couple of days ago that he was in hospital being treated for acute lung infection, but I was given to understand that he was on the mend. I was hoping to go to Kochi and look him up when he got better.

On Thursday morning the tragic news was that he was no more. That the life of such a noble person has been snatched away so soon is deeply saddening, but Raju, who was spiritual and philosophical, like me, believed that the body is only a garment; when it goes, the soul lives forever.

Raju was a rare being, a true embodiment of all the admirable qualities of head and heart — a sincere and affectionate friend, an ideal officer, a perfect gentleman.

I consider it my privilege that he was my valued colleague in the investigation of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, and in the 21 years since then, a valued and dear friend.

I was Inspector-General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Southern sector at Hyderabad when on the day after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination on May 21, 1991, I was asked to take up the investigation of the case.

The first step was to form the Special Investigation Team (SIT). When R.V. Raju came to report to me at “Malligai,” the SIT’s headquarters at Chennai, it was the first time that we met. He was from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, which had deputed him only for a short while. He impressed me greatly with his good manners, humility, commitment and clarity of thinking and expression.

I made him head of the Tracking Team, tasked to collect intelligence and track the elusive members and sympathisers of the LTTE, who were wanted for the assassination. In no time he put together a team of junior officers from different backgrounds and led the team from the front. He travelled long distances day and night in pursuit of the wanted persons. Often, he would forego sleep and food. He was an inspiration to his team members. He won their dedication to him and to a difficult and risky mission. He also believed in a truthful, impartial and fair investigation. When, after a few months at Chennai, he was asked to return to his parent cadre, I requested for an extension of his tenure with the SIT CBI. After one extension, the Director, CBI told me that the governments of India and J&K were not agreeable to further extending his deputation.

An extension

So I called on the Union Home Secretary and requested him to permit Raju to continue with the SIT. He told me it was the J&K government that was insistent on Raju’s return to Srinagar. I went all the way to Srinagar and called on the Governor — the State was then under President’s rule.

The Governor said the State was short of good senior officers and Raju was wanted back for an important assignment. I had to explain to him how indispensible Raju was to the SIT at that critical stage of the investigation, the successful outcome of which was vital for the prestige, security and integrity of the nation.

My insistence paid off, and the Governor allowed Raju’s further extension. While Raju was grateful to me for my taking so much personal interest in his continuance with the SIT at Chennai, the entire team of investigators and prosecutors was overjoyed.

Raju always told me and others that but for my willingness to stand by the truth at all costs, the investigation would have been derailed by self-seeking personalities for whom settling personal scores was more important than upholding the interests of the nation.

When many urged me to write a book about the investigation, I was hesitant as I thought it would be difficult to sum up that massive work in a book of 250 pages. It was Raju who pursued the idea and convinced me that we could do it. With his phenomenal memory for minute details and the smallest occurrences and incidents, he played a vital role in the preparation of my book on the assassination — Triumph of Truth .

At a personal level, he and his family have been very close to me and my family. He was there to share my moments of happiness and sorrow at all times. He was an officer of integrity, fairness and courage, yet a sensitive person, always sympathetic to the problems of others.

With his passing, I feel I have lost a part of myself. His life and career are worthy of emulation. I salute him.

(D.R. Kaarthikeyan is former Director, CBI, and headed the ,investigation of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.)

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