COLOMBO, June 5 : Indian has offered a cash reward for information in the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in leaflets dropped on rebel-held areas of northern Srl Lanka, an Indian diplomat said Wednesday, reports AP.

Thousands of leaflets bearing the pictures of two key suspects were dropped Tuesday from Sri Lankan aircraft on the Jaffna Peninsula, the stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Colombo.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation offered 480,000 rupees (24,000 dollars) and a promise of confidentiality for help in identifying the sus-

pects, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Informants were asked to contact the nearest Srl Lankan army camp, police station, or write the Indian High Commission in Colombo.

The photographs of a dark bespectacled young woman and a mustachioed man were taken at the May 21 election rally in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu where Gandhi and 17 others were killed.

The woman had strapped explosives to her waist and died in the blast. The man, who has disappeared, is a suspected accomplice. Police theorize he may have been part of a back-up assassination team. Both have the facial features of

Srl Lankan Tamils.

Northern Srl Lanka and Tamil Nadu are separated by 40 kilometers (25 miles) of sea. Investigators say Gandhi's assassins could have travelled to Tamil Nadu along with the tens of thousands of Srl Lankan Tamils fleeing the ethnic war.

Investigations have centered on the Tigers, the most powerful and sophisticated separatist group fighting for independence in Srl Lanka.

Investigators believe the Tigers' motive was linked to the peace accord Gandhi braked In 1987 that the Tigers found unacceptable. Indian troops fought a 2 1-2-year war against the Tamil guerillas.