World News | Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Convict Sansthan's Body Reaches Sri Lanka for Last Rites

Colombo, Mar 1 (PTI) The mortal remains of Santhan, one of the convicts in the assassination of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, reached here on Friday for the last rites, two days after he died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Chennai.

Santhan alias T Suthendiraraja (55), a Sri Lankan national, was one of the seven persons set free by the Supreme Court of India in 2022 after they served over 20 years in jail in connection with the assassination of Gandhi in Sriperumbudur near here in 1991.

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He was admitted to a government hospital in Chennai last month for liver failure and on February 28 died following a cardiac arrest.

"The body arrived here on board the Srilankan Airlines flight UL 122 mid-afternoon. Several of his relatives were at the airport to receive the remains," said a source.

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The embalmed body, draped and kept in a coffin would be taken to his house in Sri Lanka, his counsel Pugazhendhi said.

Santhan had been battling for his life for nearly a month due to liver failure diagnosed by the doctors as cryptogenic cirrhosis - a condition with no apparent underlying reason.

His brother and his counsel were by his side when he breathed his last.

On Thursday, the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to take all necessary steps to send Santhan's body to Sri Lanka.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)