Assassination of Indira Gandhi

Memorial at the place of assassination, 1, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi

Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, was assassinated on 31 October 1984, 9.30 am, at her 1, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi residence.^[1][2] She was killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards,^[3] Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, to avenge the military attack on the Harmandir Sahib (Sikhism's holiest shrine, also called "The Golden Temple") during Operation Blue Star.^[4]

Assassination

At about 9.20 am on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was on her way to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television. She was walking through the garden of the Prime Minister's Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi towards neighbouring 1, Akbar Road office. ^[1]

As she passed a wicket gate guarded by Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, they opened fire. Beant Singh fired three rounds into her from his side-arm, and Satwant Singh then fired 30 rounds from his sten gun into her prostrate body. Beant Singh was shot dead by other bodyguards at the scene of the assassination. Satwant Singh was arrested by Gandhi's other bodyguards.

Death

Indira Gandhi's blood-stained saree and her belongings at the time of her assassination, preserved at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi.

Mrs Indira Gandhi was brought at 9.30 AM to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where doctors operated on her.She was declared dead at 2.20 PM. The postmortem examination was conducted by team of Doctors headed by Dr T D Dogra. He stated that as many as 30 bullets were sustained by Mrs Indira Gandhi, from two sources, a SLR and a Pistol.The assailants had fired 31 bullets at her, of which 30 had hit; 23 had passed through her body while seven were trapped inside.Dr T D Dogra extricated bullets to establish the identity of the weapons and to correlate each weapon with the bullets recovered by ballistic examination. The bullets were matched with respective weapons at CFSL Delhi. Subsequently Dr T D Dogra appeared in the court of Shri Mahesh Chandra as an expert witness (PW-5), the testimony lasted several sessions. The cross examination was conducted by Shri P N Lekhi, the defense counsel.[7]. Her body was brought in a gun carriage through Delhi roads on the morning of November 1 to Teen Murti Bhawan where her father stayed, and where she lay in state.^[1] She was cremated on 3 November, near Raj Ghat (a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi) at an area named Shakti Sthal.

Aftermath

Main article: 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Over the next four days thousands of Sikhs were killed in retaliatory violence.

The Justice Thakkar Commission of Inquiry set up to probe Indira Gandhi’s assassination recommended a separate probe for the conspiracy angle behind the assassination. The Thakkar Report stated that the “needle of suspicion”^{[citation needed]} pointed at R.K. Dhawan for complicity in the conspiracy.

Satwant Singh and conspirator Kehar Singh were sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on 6 January 1989. Satwant Singh was the last man to be hanged in Tihar Jail in Delhi.

Sonia Gandhi Conspiracy Theory

In November 2010 the former head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), K. S. Sudarshan, accused Sonia Gandhi of plotting Indira's assassination. Sudarshan claimed that after Operation Blue Star, intelligence agencies feared a revolt by Indira's Sikh bodyguard Satwant Singh, and he was about to be replaced, but it was not done on the orders of Sonia Gandhi. Sudarshan also alleged that after the shootout, the bleeding Indira was intentionally taken to AIIMS hospital rather than Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, which was nearer her house, on orders of Sonia Gandhi in order to waste time. He further asked why a probe was not being done in order to find out the truth.^[5]

See also

• 1984 anti-Sikh riots
• Operation Blue Star
• Indian National Congress

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "25 years after Indira Gandhi's assassination". CNN-IBN. Oct 30, 2009. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-and-indira-25-years-after-a-pms-assassination/104183-37.html. 
2. ^ "Assassination in India: A Leader of Will and Force; Indira Gandhi, Born to Politics, Left Her Own Imprint on India". The New York Times. 1 November 1984. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1119.html. Retrieved 23 January 2009. 
3. ^ "1984: Assassination and revenge". BBC News. 31 October 1984. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/31/newsid_3961000/3961851.stm. Retrieved 23 January 2009. 
4. ^ "1984: Indian prime minister shot dead". BBC News. 31 October 1984. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/31/newsid_2464000/2464423.stm. Retrieved 23 January 2009. 
5. ^ http://english.samaylive.com/nation-news/676477036/sudarshan-charges-sonia-of-plotting-assassination.html

7 Dr. T D Dogra’s Expert Evidence in trial of assassination of Late Mrs Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (Witness No. PW 5)Raina Anupuma, Lalwani Sanjeev, Dogra TD, Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS, N. Delhi.Indian Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology,Year : 2009, Volume : 7, Issue : 4