NAGARWALA SCANDAL - INDHIRA GANDHI KILLED NAGARWALA

 

NAGARWALA SCANDAL -

INDHIRA GANDHI KILLED NAGARWALA

1971 ஆம் ஆண்டு நாகர்வாலா ஊழல் ஒரு மோசடி செயலாகும், அதில் ரஸ்டோம் சோஹ்ராப் நாகர்வாலா வேத் பிரகாஷ் மல்ஹோத்ராவை 6 மில்லியன் ரூபாயை இந்திய வங்கி வங்கியின் கிளையிலிருந்து நூதன முறையில் பெற்றார்.

குற்றம் [மூலத்தைத் திருத்து]

21 மே 1971 அன்று, நாகர்வாலா ஸ்டேட் பாங்க் ஆப் இந்தியாவில் மல்ஹோத்ராவை அழைத்து, பிரதமர் இந்திரா காந்தியின் குரலைப் பின்பற்றினார். பிரதமருக்கு உடனடியாக ரூ .60 லட்சம் தேவை என்று நாகர்வாலா கூறினார். "பங்களாதேஷுக்கு ஒரு இரகசிய பணிக்கு" பணம் தேவை என்று சில ஆதாரங்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன, [1] மற்றவர்கள் "வங்கதேசத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஒரு மனிதருக்காக" பணம் கோரப்பட்டதாக இன்னும் எளிமையாக தெரிவிக்கின்றனர். [2] தனது பின்னர் வாக்குமூலத்தில், நாகர்வாலா இதை "ஒரு பெரிய தேசிய முக்கியத்துவம் வாய்ந்த விஷயம்" என்று விவரித்தார் என்று கூறினார். [3] ரசீது பெற பிற்காலத்தில் பிரதமர் அலுவலகத்தை தொடர்பு கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்று நாகர்வாலா மல்ஹோத்ராவிடம் கூறினார். மல்ஹோத்ரா பணத்தைப் பெற ஒப்புக் கொண்டார், பின்னர் அதை நாகர்வாலாவுக்கு (பிரதமருக்கு பணிபுரியும் கூரியர் என்று கூறிக்கொண்டவர்) ஒரு டாக்ஸியில் அன்றைய தினத்தில் வழங்கினார். [3]

கைது மற்றும் சோதனை [மூலத்தைத் திருத்து]

பின்னர், மல்ஹோத்ரா பிரதமரின் இல்லத்திற்கு கோரியபடி ரசீது பெறச் சென்றார், ஆனால் பிரதமரால் அத்தகைய நிதி கோரப்படவில்லை என்று தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டது. இந்த மோசடி குறித்து மல்ஹோத்ரா போலீசாருக்கு தகவல் கொடுத்தார். ஒரு நாளுக்குள், நாகர்வாலா விமான நிலையத்தில் கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டு கைது செய்யப்பட்டார், மேலும் பெரும்பாலான பணம் மீட்கப்பட்டது. [3] மல்ஹோத்ரா இந்த குற்றத்தை மே 26 அன்று ஒப்புக்கொண்டார், மேலும் பத்து நிமிட நீதிமன்ற விசாரணையில் குற்றவாளி. புலனாய்வு பத்திரிகை குறித்த தனது புத்தகத்தில் எஸ்.கே. அகர்வால் இந்த சோதனையின் வேகத்தை "சட்ட வரலாற்றில் தனித்துவமானது" என்று அழைத்தார். [1] நாகர்வாலாவுக்கு நான்கு ஆண்டுகள் சிறைத்தண்டனை விதிக்கப்பட்டு காவலில் இருந்தபோது இறந்தார். [3]

ரெட்டி கமிஷன் அறிக்கை மற்றும் அதன் பின் [மூலத்தைத் திருத்து]

1977 ஆம் ஆண்டில், அரசாங்கத்தில் ஏற்பட்ட மாற்றத்திற்குப் பிறகு, பி ஜகன் மோகன் ரெட்டி இந்த நிகழ்வை விசாரிக்க நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். 1978 ஆம் ஆண்டில் ஆணைக்குழு இந்த விவகாரம் தொடர்பாக 820 பக்க அறிக்கையை வெளியிட்டது. மிக முக்கியமாக, ஒப்புதல் வாக்குமூலம் நிராகரிக்கப்பட்டிருக்க வேண்டும் என்றும் அது எந்த ஆதாரங்களாலும் ஆதாரமற்றது என்றும் அறிக்கை கண்டறிந்தது. நாகர்வாலாவின் மரணம் மாரடைப்பால் ஏற்பட்டது என்பதையும் அவர்கள் கண்டறிந்தனர், இதனால் மோசமான விளையாட்டை சந்தேகிக்க எந்த காரணமும் இல்லை. [3] எஸ்.கே. நாகர்வாலாவின் 1986 ஆம் ஆண்டின் ஒரு கட்டுரை நாகர்வாலாவின் தொடர்ச்சியான கடிதங்களை விவரித்ததாக அகர்வால் கூறினார், இது தனக்கும் இந்திரா காந்திக்கும் இடையிலான உறவைக் குறிக்கிறது, ஆனால் நாகர்வாலாவை சந்தித்ததை காந்தியால் குறிப்பாக நினைவுபடுத்த முடியவில்லை. அவர் சிறையில் இருந்தபோது எழுதப்பட்ட கடிதங்களில், நாகர்வாலா, குற்றத்தின் பின்னணியில் உள்ள உண்மையை வெளிப்படுத்த விரும்புவதாகவும், அது "தேசத்திற்கான சிறந்த கண் திறப்பாளராக" இருப்பதாகவும் கூறினார். [1]

1971 Nagarwala scandal - 1971 நகர்வாலா ஊழல்

The 1971 Nagarwala scandal was a fraudulent act in which Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala convinced Ved Prakash Malhotra to withdraw 6 million rupees from the branch of the State Bank of India where he was the head cashier.[1]

Crime[edit source]

On 21 May 1971, Nagarwala called Malhotra at the State Bank of India, and imitated voice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Nagarwala claimed that the Prime Minister immediately needed Rs 60 lakhs. Some sources report that the money was needed for a "secret mission to Bangladesh",[1] while others report more simply that the money was requested for a "man from Bangladesh".[2] In his later confession, Nagarwala stated that he described it as a "matter of great national importance".[3] Nagarwala further told Malhotra that he should contact the Prime Minister's office at a later date to get a receipt. Malhotra agreed to get the money and later delivered it to Nagarwala (who claimed to be a courier working for the Prime Minister) in a taxi later that day.[3]

Arrest and trial[edit source]

Later, Malhotra went to the Prime Minister's residence to get a receipt as requested, but was informed that no such request for funds had been made by the Prime Minister. Malhotra informed the police of the fraud. Within less than one day, Nagarwala was found and arrested at the airport, and the majority of the money was recovered.[3] Malhotra allegedly confessed to the crime on 26 May, and was convicted in a ten-minute court trial. In his book on investigative journalism, S.K. Aggarwal called the speed of this trial "unique in legal history".[1] Nagarwala was sentenced to four years imprisonment and died while in custody.[3]

Reddy Commission report and aftermath[edit source]

In 1977, after a change in government, P Jagan Mohan Reddy was appointed to inquire into the event. In 1978 the Commission issued an 820-page report on the matter. Most notably, the report found that the confession should have been rejected and that it was unsubstantiated by any evidence. They also found that Nagarwala's death was caused by a myocardial infarction and thus there was no reason to suspect foul play.[3] S.K. Aggarwal said that a 1986 article in The Statesman described a series of letters by Nagarwala that imply a relationship between himself and Indira Gandhi, though Gandhi herself could not specifically recall meeting Nagarwala. In letters written while he was jailed, Nagarwala claimed that he wanted to reveal the truth behind the crime and that it would be a "great eye opener for the nation".[1]

GUN POWDER PLAN TO KILL JAMES I

 

GUN POWDER PLAN TO KILL JAMES I

ஜார்ஜ் குருக்சங்க் வரைந்த
கை பாக்சின் படம். 1840இல்
வெளியான கை பாக்சு
புதினத்தில் வெளியானது

கை பாக்சு (Guy Fawkes, /fɔːks/; ஏப்ரல் 13, 1570 – சனவரி 31, 1606),[a] அல்லது இசுப்பானியருக்காகப் போராடியபோது கைய்டொ பாக்சு (Guido Fawkes) 1605ஆம் ஆண்டில் தோல்வியில் முடிந்த வெடிமருந்து சதித்திட்டத்தை தீட்டிய ஆங்கில கத்தோலிக்க குழுவில் உறுப்பினராக இருந்தவர்.

பாக்சு பிறந்ததும் வளர்ந்ததும் யார்க்கிலாகும். பாக்சு எட்டு அகவையராக இருக்கும்போதே அவரது தந்தை இறந்தார்; அவரது அன்னை இரண்டாம் முறையாக திருமணம் செய்தவர் ஆங்கிலத் திருச்சபைக்கு எதிரான கத்தோலிக்கர். பாக்சும் கத்தோலிக்கராக மாற்றப்பட்டார். ஐரோப்பிய கண்டம் சென்று கத்தோலிக்க எசுப்பானியாவிற்கும் சீர்திருத்த டச்சுக்காரர்களுக்கும் இடையேயான எண்பதாண்டுப் போரில் எசுப்பானியர் அணியில் பங்கேற்றார். இங்கிலாந்தில் கத்தோலிக்கப் புரட்சிக்கு ஆதரவு நாடி எசுப்பானியாவிற்குச் சென்று தோல்வியுற்றார். அங்கு தாமசு வின்டூரை சந்தித்து இருவரும் இங்கிலாந்திற்குத் திரும்பினர்.

வின்டூர் பாக்சிற்கு இராபர்ட்டு கேட்சுபியை அறிமுகப்படுத்தினார். கேட்சுபி அரசர் முதலாம் ஜேம்சைக் கொன்று கத்தோலிக்க முடியாட்சியை அரியணை ஏற்றத் திட்டம் தீட்டிக் கொண்டிருந்தார். சதியாளர்கள் பிரபுக்கள் அவையின் கீழே இருந்த அறையை வாடகைக்கு எடுத்து அங்கு வெடிமருந்தை சேகரித்து வைக்கும் பொறுப்பை கை பாக்சிடம் கொடுத்தனர். பெயரில்லாக் கடிதம் ஒன்றினால் எச்சரிக்கை பெற்ற அதிகாரிகள் வெஸ்ட்மின்ஸ்டர் அரண்மனை முழுமையும் நவம்பர் 5, 1605 அன்று சோதனை நடத்தினர். கை பாக்சு வெடிமருந்துப் பொருட்களை சேகரித்து அவற்றிற்கு பாதுகாப்பாக இருந்ததைக் கண்டறிந்தனர். அடுத்த சில நாட்கள் கை பாக்சு தீவிரமான விசாரணைக்கும் சித்திரவதைக்கும் ஆளாக்கப்பட்டார். இறுதியில் பாக்சு குற்றத்தை ஒப்புக்கொண்டார். உடனே அவருக்கு சனவரி 31 அன்று தேசத்துரோகிகளுக்கு கொடுக்கப்பட்டு வந்த கடுமையான தண்டனையான குதிரையில் கட்டி இழுத்துவந்து தூக்கிலிடப்பட்டு, பின்னர் நான்கு துண்டாக வெட்டப்படுதல் என்ற தண்டனை விதிக்கப்பட்டது. ஆனால் தூக்குமேடையிலிருந்து கீழே விழுந்து கழுத்து உடைந்து இறந்தார்; இதனால் தனக்கான கொடூரமான தண்டனையிலிருந்து தப்பித்தார்.

Procession of a Guy (1864

வெடிமருந்து சதித்திட்டத்தின் குறியீடாக கை பாக்சு அறியப்படுகிறார். இந்த சதித்திட்டத்தின் தோல்வி கை பாக்சு நாள் (நவம்பர் 5, 1605) என பிரித்தானியாவில் கொண்டாடப்படுகின்றது. வழமையாக கை பாக்சின் கொடும்பாவி சொக்கப்பனையாக எரிக்கப்படுகிறது; கூடவே வாணவெடி காட்சிகளும் நடைபெறுகின்றன.

மரபுரிமை

Sketch of a group of children escorting an effigy

Procession of a Guy (1864)

Children preparing for Guy Fawkes night celebrations (1954)

நவம்பர் 5, 1605இல் இலண்டன் மக்கள் மன்னர் கொலை முயற்சியிலிருந்து தப்பித்ததை சொக்கப்பனை ஏற்றியும் வாணவெடிகளை வெடித்தும் கொண்டாடத் தூண்டப்பட்டனர்..[1] ஒவ்வொரு நவம்பர் 5ஆம் நாளும் நன்றி தெரிவிப்பு நாளாகக் கொண்டாடப்பட வேண்டும் என்று நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் சட்டம் இயற்றப்பட்டது. இது 1859வரை செயற்பாட்டில் இருந்தது.[2] சதித் திட்டத்தில் ஈடுபட்ட 13 பேரில் ஒருவராக இருந்தபோதும் இந்த சதித்திட்டத்தின் ஒரே அடையாளமாக கை பாக்சு தொடர்புபடுத்தப்படுகிறார்.[3]

Children preparing for Guy
Fawkes night celebrations (1954)

பிரித்தானியாவில், நவம்பர் 5 , கை பாக்சு இரவு, கை பாக்சி நாள், சதி இரவு[4], சொக்கப்பனை இரவு எனப் பல்வேறு பெயர்களில் கொண்டாடப்படுகின்றது. [5] 1650களிலிருந்து சொக்கப்பனையுடன் வாணவேடிக்கைகளும் நிகழ்கின்றன. 1673இல் முடி சூடவிருந்த இளவரசர் இங்கிலாந்தின் இரண்டாம் யேம்சு கத்தோலிக்கராக மாறியதை பொதுவில் அறியப்படுத்திய பிறகு கொடும்பாவியை கத்தோலிக்க திருத்தந்தையாக பாவித்து கொளுத்துவது மரபாயிற்று.[1] இதேபோன்று பொதுமக்களின் கோபத்திற்கு ஆளான பவுல் குருகர், மார்கரெட் தாட்சர் போன்றோரின் கொடும்பாவிகளும் எரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.[6][2] "கை" கொடும்பாவியை வழமையாக சிறுவர்கள் பழையத் துணிகள், செய்தித்தாள்களிலிருந்து உருவாக்குவர்; முகமூடியையும் தரிப்பர்.[2] 19ஆம் நூற்றாண்டில், "கை" என்ற சொல் வழமையல்லா உடை உடுத்தியவரைக் குறிப்பதாக இருந்தது. ஆனால் அமெரிக்க ஆங்கிலத்தில் இச்சொல்லிற்கான இழிவுபடுத்தும் தன்மை தொலைந்து எந்த ஆண்மகனையும் குறிப்பதாக அமைந்துள்ளது.[2][7]

யார்க் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் வரலாற்றுப் பேராசிரியர் ஜேம்சு சார்ப்பு, "நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் உண்மையான நோக்கங்களுடன் நுழைந்த கடைசி மனிதன்" என பாராட்டப்பட வேண்டும் எனக் குறிப்பிடுகிறார்.[8]

வில்லியம் ஆரிசன் ஐன்சுவர்த் 1841ஆம் ஆண்டில் பதிப்பித்த கை பாக்சு அல்லது வெடிமருந்து தேசத்துரோகம் என்ற வரலாற்றுக் காதல்கதையில் பாக்சை பொதுக்கருத்தியலில் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளக்கூடிய பாத்திரமாகப் படைத்துள்ளார்.[9] பின்னாட்களில் சிறுவர் சித்திரக்கதைகளிலும் மதிப்புக்குறைந்த புதினங்களிலும் "வீரமிகு கதாநாயகனாக" சித்தரிக்கப்பட்டார்.[10] லெவிசு கால் என்ற வரலாற்றாசிரியரின் கூற்றுப்படி இருபதாம் நூற்றாண்டில் கை பாக்சு "தற்கால அரசியல் கலாசாரத்தில் ஓர் முதன்மை அடையாளமாக", அவருடைய முகம் " பின்நவீனத்துவ அரசின்மையை வெளிப்படுத்தும் கருவியாக" உள்ளது. காட்டாக கற்பனையான பாசிச இங்கிலாந்தை எதிர்க்கும் வீ ஃபோர் வென்டேட்டா தொடர் புதினத்தில் கை பாக்சு முகமூடியை வீ போட்டுள்ளார்.[

JAPANESE SUB-MARINE I-58-TINIAN ATTACKED AMERICAN SHIP INDIANA POLIS SAVED 317 SHARK KILLED DIED 879

 1945 JULY 30  CENTRAL PACIFIC WAR 

JAPANESE SUB-MARINE I-58-TINIAN ATTACKED AMERICAN SHIP INDIANA POLIS

SAVED 317 SHARK KILLED DIED 879

SAVED 317 SHARK KILLED DIED 879


1945 ஜூலை 30 இல் மத்திய பசிபிக் கடலில் 
ஜப்பானின் நீர் மூழ்கி கப்பல் I-58 - TINIAN - INDIANA POLIS என்ற அமெரிக்க கப்பலை தாக்கி மூழ்கடித்தது - 
317 பேர் காப்பாற்றப்பட்டனர் 879 பேர் இறந்தனர் 
இறந்தவர்கள் பெருபாலும் சுறா மீனுக்கு இரை ஆயினர்
Sinking of Indianapolis[edit source]

At 23:00 on 29 July 1945 I-58 surfaced 250 miles north of Palau and headed south. Shortly afterwards the navigation officer Lt. Tanaka spotted a ship approaching from the east, making 12 knots and not zigzagging. Lt.Cdr. Hashimoto incorrectly identified the target as an Idaho-class battleship.

She was in fact the heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35), and had sailed from Guam for Leyte the previous day, after having delivered parts and nuclear material for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs to Tinian from San Francisco.
Indianapolis was not equipped with sonar or hydrophones, or provided with a destroyer escort.[4]

I-58 submerged and prepared to attack with Type 95 torpedoes. After manoeuvering into position, at 23:26 (JST) the submarine fired a spread of six torpedoes at 2-second intervals.
At 23:35, Lt.Cdr Hashimoto observed two equally spaced hits on the cruiser's starboard side. The ship stopped, listed to starboard, and was down by the bow, but Hashimoto decided to attack again and dived to 100 feet to open the range and reload torpedo tubes.

While the submarine was submerged, at 00:27 on 30 July, Indianapolis capsized and sank at 12°02′N 134°48′E.
When I-58 made a periscope check, the target was gone. The submarine surfaced, and departed the area at full speed, heading north while recharging batteries.[4]
Image may contain: swimming, water and outdoor

NALINI`S ROLE IN KILLING RAJIV GANDHI WHO RAN AWAY TO SRILANKA ,GOT ARRESTED NOW ACTED AS INNOCENT

NALINI`S ROLE IN KILLING RAJIV GANDHI 

WHO RAN AWAY TO SRILANKA ,GOT ARRESTED

NOW ACTED AS INNOCENT

Twenty-five years ago to the day, May 21, 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber. It is impossible to gauge how the assassination of Rajiv, then just 46, changed Indian political history.

Would Rajiv have made a better second-term prime minister had he been re-elected in the 1991 Lok Sabha poll? Would the reformist Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh duo have been rendered irrelevant? Would Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, who himself turns 46 on June 19, have stayed out of public life?

Questions, questions. And of course there can be no definite answers. One thing though is certain: for all his faults, Rajiv disliked dynastic politics. He was a reluctant dynast himself and would have been mortified at the feudal lock dynasty now has over the Congress.

Also read: What I wrote after Rajiv Gandhi’s death has eerily come close to being a reality

But it is Rajiv's assassination by the LTTE that remains the defining tragedy for the Gandhi family. Serving a life sentence for her role in the assassination, Nalini Sriharan received a 24-hour parole from the Madras High Court to complete the final rites for her father who passed away recently.

nalini-sriharan-raji_052116111252.jpg
Nalini Sriharan.
Nalini unwittingly became a pawn in the multi-cornered Tamil Nadu Assembly poll. The DMK wanted her released from jail. Rahul Gandhi has left the politically tricky decision to the Narendra Modi government. The Congress state unit of Tamil Nadu doesn't want Nalini to be released at all.

Anti-Sinhala sentiment is strong in Tamil Nadu. It plays a significant role in the state's binary politics. Sympathy for Nalini, a key team member in the LTTE plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, is growing.



A few years ago in a television interview, Priyanka Gandhi, sitting beneath a tree with her interviewer, said she and the Gandhi family forgave Nalini (whom she had earlier met in prison) and would be happy to see her released. Rahul was against the move at the time but, five years later, seems ambivalent.

What role exactly did Nalini play in Rajiv's assassination? An edited excerpt from my biography of Rajiv Gandhi, published by Viking-Penguin, throws light on this controversial member of the LTTE's assassination squad:

The plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, was conceived deep in the jungles of north-east Sri Lanka, the impregnable hideout of V Prabhakaran, head of the LTTE. Prabhakaran summoned four hand-picked lieutenants to his jungle hideout. Each would play a key role in the plot to assassinate Rajiv. The four men were Shivarasan (popularly known as the "one-eyed Jack"), Murugan, Baby Subramaniyam and Muthuraja.

While Murugan and Shivarasan waited in Jaffna, Subramaniyam and Muthuraja turned their attention to a photographic firm in Madras called Shubha News and Photo Agency. The agency was an LTTE hotbed. It was owned by a portly fifty-five year-old photographer named Shubha Sundaram. The two LTTE men chose a 25-year-old man to be their first target for local recruitment. His name was Bhagyanathan. Bhagyanathan's sister, Nalini, worked in a private firm as a secretary; his mother, Padma, was a nurse at the Kalyani Nursing Home. Bhagyanathan's entire family would soon step into the LTTE's trap.

During April and May 1991, the core group - comprising Shrivarasan, Murugan, Arivu, suicide bomber Dhanu, Shubha and the three local "innocents" Bhagyanathan, Nalini and Padma - went over the plot in minute detail. The assassination team met at Nalini's house on the evening of May 20. The decision to proceed was finalised.

The fatal rally

On the afternoon of May 21, three members of the core team visited Sriperumbudur on a brief reconnaissance mission where Rajiv was scheduled to address a Congress election rally that evening. At 5pm Dhanu and Shivarasan, accompanied by Nalini and Shubha, met the photographer Haribabu at Parry's Corner near Madras city's main bus terminal.

The five boarded a bus for Sriperumbudur and reached there just after dusk even as Rajiv was flying from Vishakapatnam to Madras. Shubha and Nalini, dressed in colourful saris, sat with the crowd in the women's section and waited for Rajiv's arrival. Shivarasan, wearing a white kurta-pyjama and holding an empty notepad, wandered near the dais.

Haribabu and Dhanu, in her orange salwar-kameez and green dupatta, waited near the red carpet Rajiv would walk on, along the mud path between the national highway and the palm-fringed dry tank where the rally was to be held.

As Rajiv's motorcade arrived, a few minutes after 10pm, Dhanu moved away from Haribabu. Shrivarasan moved closer to Dhanu.

For the LTTE hit team, Rajiv's progress toward the dais was excruciatingly slow. They could see, a hundred meters away, the crowd that surrounded his car after he had garlanded his mother's statue. Five minutes went by as a young Tamil boy's entreaties for help in a personal matter were translated for Rajiv.


Rajiv Gandhi at the Sriperumbudur rally.
Finally, Rajiv began walking across the red carpet towards the dais. Dhanu positioned herself in the queue behind three others, waiting to garland Rajiv. Shivarasan stood to her left, about eight feet away. Nalini and Shubha remained at the back in the women's section. Haribabi was a few feet to Dhanu's right, about to start shooting the fateful photographs that preceded the assassination.

As Rajiv accepted garlands from various well-wishers, Dhanu squeezed her way between two other women, Latha and Kokila. She kept her eyes firmly on Rajiv. As Kokila recited her poem, Dhanu waited two feet behind her. When Kokila had finished, Dhanu moved forward towards Rajiv with the garland, but a woman constable put a hand up in front of her. Rajiv turned to the constable, Anusuya, and smiled. "Let everyone have a turn," he said. "Don't worry. Relax." They were to be his last words.

As he turned towards Dhanu, she placed the sandalwood garland Haribabu had bought from Poompuhar earlier that afternoon around his neck. Rajiv smiled as he took off the garland to hand it over to a Congress worker on his right. Dhanu knelt to touch his feet.

Rajiv bent down slightly in a gesture to lift Dhanu up. At that moment, Dhanu looked at the woman constable who had moved a few feet away and smiled at her. Then, still half-bent, she pressed the second toggle switch.

The explosion ripped her own body in half. Her severed head landed several feet away. Haribabu, whose camera recorded the last blinding flash, fell in a mangled heap.

Rajiv took the full force of the impact on his face and chest.

Nalini on the run

Back in Sriperumbudur, at the scene of the devastation, there was chaos. Shivarasan, who had positioned himself near the dais when the explosion occurred, ran to where Nalini and Shubha stood transfixed. He hired an autorickshaw and bundled the two women into it. At Poonamalle, the three took another autorickshaw to Jaykumaran and Shivarasan's house in Porur.

During interrogation, Bhagyanathan was identified as Nalini's brother. He and his mother, Padma, were arrested on June 11. Bhagyanathan confessed to having sheltered Shivarasan and identified him from the photograph taken by Haribabu moments before the blast. He also identified Baby Subramaniyam.

Nalini and Murugan however, escaped before the SIT arrived. Nalini, using a spare key, had let herself into her office on Sunday and left behind a resignation letter. She went home, packed her bags and fled along with Murugan, who she wanted to marry in Tirupathi. The two headed for the coast. The heavily patrolled coastal region, however, gave them no cover and the pair was forced to return to Madras. They were arrested as they got off a state transport bus at 11.20pm on June 14 near Villupuram in the South Arcot district of Tamil Nadu.

Under further interrogation, Murugan confessed that he had fallen in love with Nalini. She was pregnant. The two had reached the coastal tip of Mandapam near Rameshwaram after fleeing from Sriperumbudur. There they had waited for one of the LTTE's boats to ferry them to Jaffna. However, security patrols forced then back to Madras where they fell into the SIT's trap.

Nalini was escorted back to the special prison for women in Vellore in March 2016 under heavy security after her 24-hour parole ended. There is little doubt though that the demand for her release will grow among both the DMK and AIADMK cadres tapping into parochial Tamil sentiment.


The Congress will continue to walk a tightrope. While Sonia and Rahul remain ambivalent, the state Congress unit in Tamil Nadu will oppose her release. Nalini's fate could ultimately lie with Jayalalithaa as she begins, after her electoral victory this week, what might well be her final term as chief minister.

CLAUS VON STAUFFENBERG ,THE MAIN VICTIM TO KILL HITLER GOT ARRESTED AND SHOT DEAD BORN 1907 NOVEMBER 15

CLAUS VON STAUFFENBERG ,

THE MAIN VICTIM TO KILL HITLER

GOT ARRESTED AND SHOT DEAD

BORN 1907 NOVEMBER 15-1944 july 21

Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg[1] (15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer and member of the German nobility who was one of the leading members of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi Party from power.

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Claus von Stauffenberg
Birth name	Claus Philipp Maria Schenk
Born	15 November 1907 Jettingen, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	21 July 1944 (aged 36) Berlin, Free State of Prussia, Nazi Germany 52.507892°N 13.36219°E
Allegiance	Weimar Republic (1930–1933)  Nazi Germany (1933–1943)  German resistance (1943–1944)
Service/branch	Wehrmacht
Years of service	1930–1944
Rank	Oberst
Battles/wars	World War II Invasion of Poland Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Tunisia Campaign
Awards	Wound Badge on 14 April 1943 (in gold) German Cross on 8 May 1943 (in Gold)
Spouse(s)	Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg (1933–1944; his death)
Relations	Parents[show] Children

 Along with Henning von Tresckow and Hans Oster, he was one of the central figures of the German Resistance movement within the Wehrmacht. For his involvement in the movement, he was executed by firing squad shortly after the failed attempt known as Operation Valkyrie.[2]

Early life[edit]

In his youth, he and his brothers were members of the Neupfadfinder, a German Scout association and part of the German Youth movement.[4][5][6][7]
Like his brothers, he was carefully educated and inclined toward literature, but eventually took up a military career. In 1926, he joined the family's traditional regiment, the Bamberger Reiter- und Kavallerieregiment 17 (17th Cavalry Regiment) in Bamberg.

It was around this time that the three brothers were introduced by Albrecht von Blumenthal to the poet Stefan George's influential circle, Georgekreis, from which many notable members of the German resistance would later emerge. George dedicated Das neue Reich ("the new Empire") in 1928, including the Geheimes Deutschland ("secret Germany") written in 1922, to Berthold.[8] The work outlines a new form of society ruled by a hierarchical spiritual aristocracy. George rejected any attempts to use it for political purposes, especially Nazism.

Stauffenberg was commissioned as a leutnant (second lieutenant) in 1930. He studied modern weapons at the Kriegsakademie in Berlin-Moabit, but remained focused on the use of horses—which continued to carry out a large part of transportation duties throughout World War II—in modern warfare. His regiment became part of the German 1st Light Division under General Erich Hoepner, who had taken part in the plans for the September 1938 German Resistance coup, cut short by Hitler's unexpected diplomatic success in the Munich Agreement. The unit was among the Wehrmacht troops that moved into Sudetenland following its annexation to the Reich as per the Munich Agreement.

Pre-war misgivings[edit]

Although Stauffenberg agreed with some of the Nazi Party's nationalistic aspects and had supported the German colonization of Poland and made racist remarks regarding Polish Jews,[9][10][11] he found many aspects of the Nazi Party's ideology repugnant and never became a member.

Moreover, Stauffenberg remained a practicing Catholic. Stauffenberg vacillated between a strong personal dislike of Hitler's policies and a respect for what he perceived to be Hitler's military acumen. On top of this, the growing systematic ill-treatment of Jews and suppression of religion had offended Stauffenberg's strong personal sense of Catholic morality and justice.[12][

Operation Barbarossa, 1941[edit]

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, was launched on 22 June 1941. During the idle months of the so-called Phoney War, preceding the Battle of France (1939–40), he had already been transferred to the organizational department of the Oberkommando des Heeres, the German army high command, which directed the operations on the Eastern Front. Stauffenberg did not engage in any coup plot at this time. The Stauffenberg brothers (Berthold and Claus) maintained contact with former commanders like Hoepner, and with the Kreisau Circle; they also included civilians and social democrats like Julius Leber in their scenarios for an administration after Hitler.

According to Hoffman (p. 131, 1988) citing Brigadier (ret.) Oskar Alfred-Berger's letters, Stauffenberg had commented openly on the ill-treatment of the Jews when he "expressed outrage and shock on this subject to fellow officers in General Staff Headquarters in Vinnitsa (Ukraine) during the summer of 1942." [14] Being interrogated after his capture by the Red Army on September 2, 1944, Stauffenberg's friend, Major Joachim Kuhn claimed that Stauffenberg had told him in August 1942 that "They are shooting Jews in masses. These crimes must not be allowed to continue."[15] After his arrest in July 1944, Stauffenberg’s older brother Berthold told the Gestapo that: "He and his brother had basically approved of the racial principle of National Socialism, but considered it to be exaggerated and excessive".[16]

Tunisia, 1942[edit]

In November 1942, the Allies landed in French North Africa, and the 10th Panzer Division occupied Vichy France (Case Anton) before being transferred to fight in the Tunisia Campaign, as part of the Afrika Korps.

In 1943, Stauffenberg was promoted to Oberstleutnant i.G.[17] (lieutenant-colonel of the general staff), and was sent to Africa to join the 10th Panzer Division as its Operations Officer in the General Staff (Ia). On 19 February, Rommel launched his counter-offensive against British, American and French forces in Tunisia. The Axis commanders hoped to break rapidly through either the Sbiba or Kasserine Pass into the rear of the British 1st Army. The assault at Sbiba was halted, so Rommel concentrated on Kasserine Pass where primarily the Italian 7th Bersaglieri Regiment and 131st Centauro Armoured Division had defeated the American defenders.[18] During the fighting, Stauffenberg drove up to be with the leading tanks and troops of the 10th Panzer Division.[19] The division, together with the 21st Panzer Division, took up defensive positions near Mezzouna on 8 April.

On 7 April 1943, Stauffenberg was involved in driving from one unit to another, directing their movement.[20] Near Mezzouna, his vehicle was part of a column strafed by Kittyhawk (P-40) fighter bombers of the Desert Air Force – most likely from No. 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force [21] – and he received multiple severe wounds.

Stauffenberg spent three months in a hospital in Munich, where he was treated by Ferdinand Sauerbruch. Stauffenberg lost his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand.[22] He jokingly remarked to friends never to have really known what to do with so many fingers when he still had all of them. For his injuries, Stauffenberg was awarded the Wound Badge in Gold on 14 April and for his courage the German Cross in Gold on 8 May.

In the resistance, 1943–44[edit]

For rehabilitation, Stauffenberg was sent to his home, Schloss Lautlingen (today a museum), then still one of the Stauffenberg castles in southern Germany. Initially, he felt frustrated not to be in a position to stage a coup himself. But by the beginning of September 1943, after a somewhat slow recovery from his wounds, he was propositioned by the conspirators and was introduced to Henning von Tresckow as a staff officer to the headquarters of the Ersatzheer ("Replacement Army" – charged with training soldiers to reinforce first line divisions at the front), located on the Bendlerstrasse (later Stauffenbergstrasse) in Berlin.

There, one of Stauffenberg's superiors was General Friedrich Olbricht, a committed member of the resistance movement. The Ersatzheer had a unique opportunity to launch a coup, as one of its functions was to have Operation Valkyrie in place. This was a contingency measure which would let it assume control of the Reich in the event that internal disturbances blocked communications to the military high command. Ironically, the Valkyrie plan had been agreed to by Hitler but was now secretly changed to sweep the rest of his regime from power in the event of his death.

A detailed military plan was developed not only to occupy Berlin, but also to take the different headquarters of the German army and of Hitler in East Prussia by military force after the suicide assassination attempt by Axel von dem Bussche in late November 1943. Stauffenberg had von dem Bussche transmit these written orders personally to Major Kuhn once he had arrived at Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) near Rastenburg, East Prussia. However, von dem Bussche had left the Wolfsschanze for the eastern front, after the meeting with Hitler was cancelled, and the attempt could not be made. Kuhn hid these compromising documents under a watch tower of the OKW, located not far from the Wolfsschanze.

Kuhn became a prisoner of war of the Soviets after the 20 July plot. He led the Soviets to the hiding place of the documents in February 1945. In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev presented these documents to then-German chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl. The conspirators' motivations have been a matter of discussion for years in Germany after the war. Many thought the plotters wanted to kill Hitler in order to end the war and to avoid the loss of their privileges as professional officers and members of the nobility.[23]

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Allies had landed in France. Stauffenberg, like most other German professional military officers, had absolutely no doubt that the war was lost. Only an immediate armistice could avoid more unnecessary bloodshed and further damage to Germany, its people, and other European nations. However, in late 1943, he had written out demands with which he felt the Allies had to comply in order for Germany to agree to an immediate peace. These demands included Germany retaining its 1914 eastern borders, including the Polish territories of Wielkopolska and Poznań.[24]

 Other demands included keeping such territorial gains as Austria and the Sudetenland within the Reich, giving autonomy to Alsace-Lorraine, and even expansion of the current wartime borders of Germany in the south by annexing Tyrol as far as Bozen and Meran. Non-territorial demands included such points as refusal of any occupation of Germany by the Allies, as well as refusal to hand over war criminals by demanding the right of "nations to deal with its own criminals". These proposals were only directed to the Western Allies – Stauffenberg wanted Germany only to retreat from western, southern and northern positions, while demanding the right to continue military occupation of German territorial gains in the east.[25]

20 July plot[edit]
Main article: 20 July plot
Office at Bendlerblock.

Remembrance stone in Berlin/Yorckstrasse cemetery. Here the corpses were buried and then moved to an unknown place.
52.490035°N 13.367359°E.

Remembrance stone in Berlin/Yorckstrasse cemetery. Here the corpses were buried and then moved to an unknown place.
52.490035°N 13.367359°E.

Stauffenberg, left, with Hitler (centre) and Wilhelm Keitel, right, in an aborted assassination attempt at Rastenburg on 15 July 1944.
54.079344°N 21.493544°E.

Stauffenberg, left, with Hitler (centre) and Wilhelm Keitel, right, in an aborted assassination attempt at Rastenburg on 15 July 1944.
54.079344°N 21.493544°E.

As early as September 1942 von Stauffenberg was considering Hans Georg Schmidt von Altenstadt (de:Hans Georg Schmidt von Altenstadt), author of Unser Weg zum Meer, as a replacement for Hitler. From the beginning of September 1943 until 20 July 1944, von Stauffenberg was the driving force behind the plot to assassinate Hitler and take control of Germany. His resolve, organisational abilities, and radical approach put an end to inactivity caused by doubts and long discussions on whether military virtues had been made obsolete by Hitler's behaviour. With the help of his friend Henning von Tresckow, he united the conspirators and drove them into action.[26]
Stauffenberg was aware that, under German law, he was committing high treason. He openly told young conspirator Axel von dem Bussche in late 1943, "ich betreibe mit allen mir zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln den Hochverrat..." ("I am committing high treason with all means at my disposal....").[27] He justified himself to Bussche by referring to the right under natural law ("Naturrecht") to defend millions of people's lives from the criminal aggressions of Hitler.

Only after the conspirator General Helmuth Stieff on 7 July 1944 had declared himself unable to assassinate Hitler on a uniforms display at Klessheim castle near Salzburg, Stauffenberg decided to personally kill Hitler and to run the plot in Berlin. By then, Stauffenberg had great doubts about the possibility of success. Tresckow convinced him to go on with it even if it had no chance of success at all, "The assassination must be attempted. Even if it fails, we must take action in Berlin", as this would be the only way to prove to the world that the Hitler regime and Germany were not one and the same and that not all Germans supported the regime.

Stauffenberg's part in the original plan required him to stay at the Bendlerstraße offices in Berlin, so he could phone regular army units all over Europe in an attempt to convince them to arrest leaders of Nazi political organisations such as the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and the Gestapo. Unfortunately, when General Helmuth Stieff, Chief of Operation at Army High Command, who had regular access to Hitler, backtracked from his earlier commitment to assassinate Hitler, Stauffenberg was forced to take on two critical roles: kill Hitler far from Berlin and trigger the military machine in Berlin during office hours of the very same day. Beside Stieff, he was the only conspirator who had regular access to Hitler (during his briefings) by mid-1944, as well as being the only officer among the conspirators thought to have the resolve and persuasiveness to convince German military leaders to throw in with the coup once Hitler was dead. This requirement greatly reduced the chance of a successful coup.

After several unsuccessful tries by Stauffenberg to meet Hitler, Göring and Himmler when they were together, he went ahead with the attempt at Wolfsschanze on 20 July 1944. Stauffenberg entered the briefing room carrying a briefcase containing two small bombs. The location had unexpectedly been changed from the subterranean Führerbunker to Albert Speer's wooden barrack/hut due to it being a hot summer's day. He left the room to arm the first bomb with specially adapted pliers, a task made difficult because he had lost his right hand and had only three fingers on his left. A guard knocked and opened the door, urging him to hurry as the meeting was about to begin. As a result, Stauffenberg was able to arm only one of the bombs. He left the second bomb with his aide-de-camp, Werner von Haeften, and returned to the briefing room, where he placed the briefcase under the conference table, as close as he could to Hitler. Some minutes later, he excused himself and left the room. After his exit, the briefcase was moved by Colonel Heinz Brandt.

When the explosion tore through the hut, Stauffenberg was convinced that no one in the room could have survived. Although four people were killed and almost all survivors were injured, Hitler himself was shielded from the blast by the heavy, solid-oak conference table leg and was only slightly wounded.

Stauffenberg and Haeften quickly left and drove to the nearby airfield. After his return to Berlin, Stauffenberg immediately began to motivate his friends to initiate the second phase: the military coup against the Nazi leaders. When Joseph Goebbels announced by radio that Hitler had survived and later, after Hitler himself personally spoke on the state radio, the conspirators realised that the coup had failed. They were tracked to their Bendlerstrasse offices and overpowered after a brief shoot-out, during which Stauffenberg was wounded in the shoulder.

Execution[edit]

Death certificate (issued in 1951)

Death certificate (issued in 1951)

Memorial at the Bendlerblock in Berlin

Memorial at the Bendlerblock in Berlin

Stauffenberg memorial at the ruins of the Wolf's Lair, near Kętrzyn, Poland

Stauffenberg memorial at the ruins of the Wolf's Lair, near Kętrzyn, Poland
In an attempt to save his own life, co-conspirator Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm, Commander-in-Chief of the Replacement Army present in the Bendlerblock (Headquarters of the Army), charged other conspirators in an impromptu court martial and condemned the ringleaders of the conspiracy to death. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, his aide 1st Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, General Friedrich Olbricht, and Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim were executed before 1:00 in the morning (21 July 1944) by a makeshift firing squad in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, which was lit by the headlights of a truck.

Stauffenberg was third in line to be executed, with Lieutenant von Haeften after. However, when it was Stauffenberg's turn, Lieutenant von Haeften placed himself between the firing squad and Stauffenberg, and received the bullets meant for Stauffenberg. When his turn came, Stauffenberg spoke his last words, "Es lebe unser heiliges Deutschland!" ("Long live our sacred Germany!")[28][29] Others say the last words were: "Es lebe das geheime Deutschland!" ("Long live the secret Germany!")[29][30] Fromm ordered that the executed officers (his former co-conspirators) receive an immediate burial with military honours in the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin's Schöneberg district. The next day, however, Stauffenberg's body was exhumed by the SS, stripped of his medals and insignia, and cremated. Stauffenberg's family had already fled the country.

Another central figure in the plot was Stauffenberg's eldest brother, Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. On 10 August 1944, Berthold was tried before Judge-President Roland Freisler in the special "People's Court" (Volksgerichtshof). This court was established by Hitler for political offences. Berthold was one of eight conspirators executed by slow strangulation (reputedly with piano wire used as the garrote) in Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, later that day. Before he was killed, Berthold was strangled and then revived multiple times.[31] The entire execution and multiple resuscitations were filmed for Hitler to view at his leisure.[31] More than 200[32] were condemned in show trials and executed. Hitler used the 20 July Plot as an excuse to destroy anyone he feared would oppose him. The traditional military salute was replaced with the Nazi salute also known as the Hitler salute. Eventually, over 20,000 Germans were killed or sent to concentration camps in the purge.[33]