Rajiv Gandhi case: Hearing deferred in Supreme Court

The matter, which was listed before a bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha, was called for hearing in the pre-lunch session but the counsel appearing for the petitioner requested that it should be taken up later in the day.

However, the matter could not be taken up for hearing in the post-lunch session as the bench was busy hearing other regular matters.

The Centre had earlier filed a report in a sealed cover in the court on the investigation being carried out on the conspiracy aspect behind the making of the belt bomb.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at an election rally. Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were also killed.

This was perhaps the first case of suicide bombing claiming the life of a high-profile global leader.

The apex court had on August 17 asked the Centre and the CBI to apprise it of the probe being carried out on the conspiracy aspect behind the making of the bomb after petitioner AG Perarivalan had claimed that this aspect was not being probed properly.

Perarivalan's counsel had earlier told the court that several aspects, including the conspiracy angle behind making of the bomb, have not been probed properly.

The counsel had told the court that Perarivalan was held guilty of supplying the batteries for the belt-bomb worn by Dhanu that had killed Rajiv Gandhi.

The apex court had earlier commuted to life term the death sentence awarded to Perarivalan in the case.

It was hearing a plea by Perarivalan, who has alleged that neither the CBI's special investigation team, nor the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) headed by it, had proceeded with the probe in a proper perspective to bring the accused to book, as several top people were involved in it.

The apex court had on February 18, 2014 commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment, along with two other condemned prisoners - Santhan and Murugan - on grounds of a delay of 11 years in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre.