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Charges likely to be filed in April

Rajiv murder investigators build strong case against LTTE
MADRAS. , Jan 25 : After months of working in the dark, the chief investigator in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi says with satisfaction, "we have seen the light." reports AP.
The Gandhi case is finally nearIng a court date eight months after the former Indian Prime Minister was slain.
Officials say they have built a strong case against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Sri Lankan separatist army that is among the fiercest and best-trained guerilla forces in the world.
Police began the investigation with few clues and no living suspects. The assassin was blown apart by the suicide bomb that killed her target. The suspected mastermind of the plot and six of his henchmen swallowed cyanide before they could be captured. But several alleged accomplices were caught.
Investigators hope to file charges in April, said DR. Karthikeyan, a 52-year-old inspector general who was drafted from a paramilitary police force to lead the investigation.
So far. 20 people are under arrest, including Srl Lankan and Indian Tamils. Most are likely to be charged, along with Tamil Tiger leaders In Sri Lanka who will be declared fugitives.
Karthikeyan's team has filled two rooms with documents, examined thousands of photographs and 500 video and audio cassettes, recorded statements of about 1.000 people and interrogated thousands more.
"We started with nothing,"
he said In a recent interview In his heavily guarded office. But finally "we have seen the light . . . after eight mpnths of 20 hours a day and seven days a week of legwork, interrogations and paperwork."
Until the assassination, sympathy Tor the Tigers was widespread in Tamil Nadu . which Is home to 60 million ethnic Tamils. State governments turned a blind eye as the l igers bi.ilt a staging base for their struggle for an independent homeland tn northern Sri Lanka. separated from the Tamil Nadu coast by a 30-minutc boat ride.
The Tigers have denied Involvement in Gandhi's assassination. but the evidence and circumstances weigh against them:
The bomber, a young woman who detonated the plastic explosives strapped to her waist from a distance of 1 foot from Gandhi, was a Sri l.ankan Tamil. Her head was severed by the blast but her face was recognisable from a photograph taken by a man who was among the 16 other victims of the bomb.
The alleged masterminded and back-up assassin was identified as Slverasan. a
known member of the Tigers Cornered by police near the city of Bangalore August 20. he committed Suicide by shooting himself through the head.
The Tigers and the motive : As prime minister in 1987, Gandhi had sent Indian troops to northern Srl Lanka where they wiped out many of the rebels' trained fighters in a two-year war. The Tigers feared that if Gandhi came back to power, their operations in Tamil Nadu would be crushed, said a senior state police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.