The Rediff Interview/K Madhavan
'The Commission report is nothing but sensationalism'
Former joint director, CBI, K Madhavan was upbeat when
Shobha Warrier met him in Madras, as if he was enjoying the debate on
the Jain Commission's interim report which he has initiated. He cracked jokes and quoted from P G Wodehouse before and after the interview.
The leaked version of the Jain Commission report has blamed
Karunanidhi and the DMK for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. But
in your statement last week, you have said that neither Karunanidhi nor
the DMK can be blamed for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. Why do
you say so?
A commission is generally appointed following
an incident of national consequence like bribery, murder, etc.
After that a criminal investigation follows. The implication being
that a criminal investigation is more thorough than a commission.
A commission is a fact-finding probe being conducted by a judge in
an air conditioned room with some people appearing before him,
whereas a criminal investigation is headed by an officer of the
rank of inspector general or someone with people going into the field, sifting
through the evidence carefully, contacting maybe a thousand people and
getting the relevant evidence from 200. It is much more thorough
than a commission's work.
The investigation work was already done in this case by (D R) Karthikeyan,
IG, Raju DIG, Sreekumar DIG and Rogothaman, chief investigating
officer. And they have done a very thorough job. They have prosecuted
41 people. The trial is over and none of them is a DMK, AIADMK
or Congressman. No politician is involved. They have squarely
accused the LTTE for having conspired to kill Rajiv Gandhi and
killing him.
During the trial, the defence lawyers and no other
person ever accused the CBI or Karthikeyan of having left
out any evidence or anything. Now the judgment is pending.
At this time, Jain is coming out with a one-sided version, based
on intelligence reports, that Karunanidhi and the DMK are behind
the crime. He is even accusing Chidambaram to some extent. Accusing
Chidambaram is the unkindest cut of them all as Shakespeare would have put it
because Chidambaram was probably closest to Rajiv Gandhi in the
political set-up, intellectually and age-wise.
To say that these
people are responsible when a criminal investigation has not accused
them of any offence, in my view, is a travesty of justice.
So, what I said applies not only to the DMK, it applies equally
to AIADMK, it applies equally to the Congress too. Jain has gone
on the basis of some intelligence reports which more often than
not are wrong. That is why I felt that having been a professional
investigator, the public should be made aware that the facts-approach
in the report is not correct.
Will it have a damaging effect on the Special Investigation
Team's findings?
To my knowledge, it is not going to do any damage because no
such plea has been taken in the court. The criminal conspiracy
has also been looked into by the team. If it cannot be proved
in court, it is taken as not proved. So, I don't think it is going
to damage the investigation at all and the trial.
Will it affect in any other way?
The trial?
Yes.
Not as of now. Unless the Commission files an affidavit before
the court and says that the facts have been suppressed. And no
such thing has been done till now.
You asked the public to be wary of this report. Why did you
say so?
I said, you should be wary because a full-fledged criminal
investigation has cleared all these people and therefore when
somebody says X or Y or Z is guilty, the public should be careful
about believing it.
Don't you think the attitude of the public to those accused
by the report will be different now, mainly because of the kind
of publicity the report has got?
That is why I am trying to clear it. I know a lot about commissions
and investigations. See, each politician will approach it from
his own angle. They have an axe to grind. But when
I speak out, I speak out as a professional. I was never in politics
and I have no intention of entering politics. So I can be objective
and I can speak the truth and appraise the public what to believe
and what not to believe.
When the politicians are shouting, will your voice be heard
by the public?
I am not bothered about that. I am not bothered whether it
will be heard, but at least if I initiate a discussion on the subject,
I succeed. There will be other intellectuals who will follow it
up. For example, I issued my press release four or five days back.
I am happy to find now the Hindustan Times, The Times of India,
Indian Express, Economics Times, etc. are all against the Jain
Commission report in their editorials. They are saying the same
things which I have said. I already stand vindicated.
Do you feel the report is politically motivated?
It is sensationalism. I would say the report of the Commission --
I won't say Jain; kindly avoid the word Jain -- is nothing but sensationalism.
What will the Commission achieve by sensationalising the report?
I don't know. I think you better ask Mr Jain what he plans
to achieve and what he proposes to achieve.
It took six long years for the Commission to come out with
a report, that too an interim report. Could that be a reason?
I have been calling it the longest pregnancy!
Was that the reason why you called the report 'a wastage of public
time and money' in your statement?
Yes, it did not require this much of time and money. And this
is the first time in the world, to the best of my knowledge, that
a Commission is appointed after a criminal investigation. It is
usually the other way round. A Commission is appointed and they
quickly go into the facts, place some prime facie findings. Then
it is probed deeper by the investigation.
'Rajiv was rather careless about his security'
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