According to an unverified but reliable report appearing in the Times of India, Ms.Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Ms.Sonia Gandhi met Ms.Nalini Sriharan, who was involved in the assassination of her father Mr.Rajiv Gandhi in Vellore on 19th March 008 wherein Ms.Nalilini is lodged.
The report is based on an application filed by a Chennai based Lawyer under the Right to Information Act (RTI) which sought information about the meeting.
Ms.Nalini was a key accused in the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. She was initially sentenced to death which was later commuted to life imprisonment and she is undergoing the sentence in the Vellore Prison in Tamil Nadu.
During the meeting, the report adds that Ms.Priyanka wanted to elicit as much information as possible on the motive behind the assassination, as to masterminds behind it and the involvement of LTTE. Ms.Nalini appears to have kept quiet for some and answered briefly for others. It is reported that she had kept quiet when Ms.Priyanka told her as to why did she do this to her father who was a good natured person and the issues could have been resolved through talks.
On the question as to who was behind the plot, Ms.Nalini appears to have responded by saying that she was in dark on this and the human bomb who killed her father alone would have known the answer. On the involvement of LTTE, she is reported to have said that she was not sure, which by implication meant that neither she had confirmed nor denied about its involvement.
On a question as to why she took a road to this type of undesirable involvement, she seems to have cited her neglected childhood as the reason.
It is unclear as to Ms. Ms.Pryanka chose to meet Ms.Nalini. It is made out that it was her own decision. This could have been prompted by the frequent letters which Ms.Nalini was said to have written to Ms.Sonia Gandhi some of which had enquired about her health when she was laid down, which could have generated some goodwill among the family members of Ms.Sonia Gandhi. This could be the most convincing reason as their meeting was said to have transpired into personal levels in which Ms.Nalini was reported to have enquired about Ms.priyanka’s children etc and Ms.Priyanka was reported to have reciprocated by enquiring about the welfare of Ms.Nalini’s daughter.
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