The death of Santhan, one of the freed convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who was laid to rest in his hometown in Jaffna, was a “planned act of vengeance”, his counsel Pugazhendi told reporters during a media briefing.

“His death was a planned act of vengeance perpetrated by the Indian government,” he told the media at the Jaffna press club on Tuesday. “It was to take revenge for Rajiv Gandhi’s murder.”

Pugazhendi told reporters that the Indian courts did not have any reason to keep Santhan for over a year even after he was freed from this case. “Restraining Santhan to a foreign detention centre violates the directive given to release him and the administrative lapse and malpractices of the government officials indicate that they are culpable for his death,” he added.

“The court order to release him was intentionally ignored by the local police and the district collector,” he said. “They deliberately concealed the information from Santhan and myself, and prevented him from leaving to Sri Lanka.”

Pugazhendi came out with these damning allegations a day after Santhan was laid to rest in his hometown in Jaffna. The North-East declared a day of mourning and tributes were held in several places honouring him. 

“Santhan was to return home on 21st February, but why didn't the Indian government allow it?” continued Pugazhendi. “Santhan was not informed. It was in the 11th hour that Santhan was told his passport had come and he was given a copy of it, but this passport was issued much earlier and kept away from Santhan. Only after his death, the District Collector returned Santhan’s passport to the Sri Lankan High Commission. Why did they withhold the passport?”

His lawyer alleged that the reason for the delay in giving Santhan his passport is not known but action must be taken to hold those responsible. “Santhan should have arrived home on the 22nd of February. He has no family in India and his only wish was to return home to Sri Lanka.”

He told the media that a case would be filed in courts over the failure of the government officials concerned that ultimately prevented Santhan from returning home. 

Responding to a query by a journalist on how Santhan’s body was repatriated home, the lawyer said that it was “disgraceful” that authorities in India did not care to even wrap his body in a cloth and merely sent it in a box after the post-mortem. “When we received the body, it was not even properly attended to, they merely put the body in a box and sent it over with no respect to the dead.”

Santhan was one of the seven freed convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, he passed away at a hospital in Chennai, just days before he was finally due to return to Eelam and see his family for the first time in decades. According to Indian press reports, he passed away after having suffered a cardiac arrest.

His death ends a 30-year-long yearning to be reunited with his mother and his family who remain in Jaffna. His family, particularly his mother intensified her pleas to have her son brought home after it was announced that Santhan was also ailing from liver failure and his health was deteriorating fast. 

Santhan was convicted with six others for facilitating the assassination of the former Indian Premier. However, in November 2022, the High Court released all seven individuals. Subsequently, they were transferred to the Special Camp, a detention centre for foreigners located in Trichy Central Jail, where they have been held since November 2022.