Mafias Swindle Millions in LTTE Chief Prabhakaran’s Name: Nephew Warns He’s Not Alive
The family of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the mastermind behind Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, has accused some individuals of extorting crores of rupees from Tamils by claiming that the LTTE leader is still alive. Prabhakaran’s nephew, Karthik Manoharan, told IANS that a mafia gang is using Prabhakaran’s name as a brand.
This gang is raising funds from Tamils living abroad. Karthik said that the money being collected in Prabhakaran’s name is neither reaching his family members nor the poor Tamils. He advised Indian expatriates to stay away from this fraud.
Since leaving Sri Lanka in 1983, Manoharan’s family has stayed out of the limelight. Last year on November 27, an AI-generated video speech of Prabhakaran’s daughter Dwarka Prabhakaran was released by an NRI in Switzerland. Following this, Manoharan’s family appealed that fake videos related to their family should not be shared.
Nephew Says – Prabhakaran Would Have Contacted if He Were Alive
Karthik Manoharan stated that Prabhakaran and his family died in 2009. If Prabhakaran were alive, he would have definitely made contact. Even when they were in Sri Lanka, they always stayed in touch. The last contact with him was in 2008.
When the war against Tamils started in Sri Lanka in 1983, Prabhakaran’s brother returned with his family and parents. The leadership of the Tamils in this war was taken by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters.
This was the same time when the Sri Lankan army, strengthened by weapons from Pakistan, Singapore, and South Africa, besieged Jaffna, considered the stronghold of the minority Tamils. Fed up with the atrocities of the majority Sinhalese speakers, the Tamils took up arms. They were demanding a separate country.
LTTE Upset with Rajiv Government Over Agreement with Sri Lanka
In 1987, an agreement was reached between India and Sri Lanka in the name of establishing peace. Under this, the Indian Army was supposed to maintain peace between both parties and the Tamil groups were to surrender their weapons, but the LTTE did not agree to this.
Gradually, the war between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE turned into a war between the Indian Army and the LTTE. Hundreds of Indian soldiers were martyred and hundreds were injured. After this, the Congress government, embroiled in the Bofors scandal, lost the 1989 election.
Prabhakaran Planned Rajiv Gandhi’s Assassination
In the 1991 elections, fearing Rajiv Gandhi’s return to power, LTTE leader Prabhakaran decided to assassinate him. Rajiv’s assassination was called ‘Operation Wedding’ by the LTTE. LTTE head Velupillai Prabhakaran planned Rajiv’s assassination in November 1990.
The LTTE suicide bomber who killed Rajiv Gandhi was a woman named Dhanu. On May 21, 1991, around 10 PM, Rajiv Gandhi arrived at Sriperumbudur, 40 kilometers from Tamil Nadu’s capital Madras (now Chennai), to address a rally.
Dhanu approached Rajiv, garlanded him with sandalwood, and bowed to touch his feet. During this, she pressed the button of the bomb belt she wore under her clothes. The explosion was so powerful that many people were torn apart. Sixteen people, including Rajiv and the attacker Dhanu, died on the spot, while 45 people were seriously injured.
