Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case does a commendable job of compiling all the facts and presenting a comprehensive documentation of the events following the assassination of the former prime minister. However, I feel the series suffers from a lack of characterization, and it feels more like a compilation of facts and figures. It feels as though the series refrained from giving us that unique perspective from the perspective of someone involved in the entire investigation process.
Yes, I believe that through Amit Verma's character, the filmmaker sought to achieve this, but even so, that aspect was largely downplayed. So, let's find out what happened in the series and the challenges the special investigation team had to face in finding the perpetrators. The biggest challenge faced by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) (set up to find the mastermind behind Rajiv Gandhi's assassination) was that no one knew what had happened on that fateful day, as no terrorist organization had claimed responsibility behind the incident.
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Writers: Rohit G. Banawlikar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Sriram Rajan
Stars: Amit Sial, Bagavathi Perumal, Girish Sharma
In fact, it seemed as if Kaarthikeyan (the team leader) and his officers were shooting aimlessly, hoping to get lucky. Kaarthikeyan told his boss, Vijay Karan, the CBI director, that he wanted to form his own team to pick out trustworthy people and that he also knew they had the potential to solve such a complex case. Assistant Inspectors Amod Kaanth, Raju, Ragothaman, and Senior Inspector Amit Verma were chosen to be part of the core team, and together they began the search for Rajiv Gandhi's killers.
Kaarthikeyan inspected the crime scene with his men, and before he could begin his investigation, it emerged that a report had been published in the local newspaper where the editors claimed that a woman dressed in a saffron outfit was the suicide bomber who killed Rajiv Gandhi. Kaarthikeyan was furious, as such information should not have been leaked. They learned that a forensic expert named Chandra Shekharan had found clues that led him to that conclusion, and likely wanted recognition for his work, which is why he leaked the information to the press. The SIT obtained a camera used by a journalist named Haribabu to photograph the incident. They soon realized that Haribabu had been specially hired for the job, but because he accidentally got too close to the suicide bomber, he ended up meeting his fateful end. There was an unknown man standing in the corner of the photo, but surprisingly, when the newspaper published it, it cropped him out. Kaarthikeyan knew there were people in the establishment trying to protect him and didn't want his identity revealed.
The LTTE, the rebel group operating out of Jaffna, was suspected of being behind the attack. But, curiously, they hadn't claimed responsibility for the murder, which is unusual for them. Kaarthikeyan and his team got lucky when a journalist named Bhagwan Singh approached them and said he had met Haribabu at the event and sensed he was up to something. It was learned that two well-known journalists, Shubha Sundaram and Baby Subramanium, LTTE sympathizers, were involved in the conspiracy and knew the entire plan.
Thanks to evidence obtained from the crime scene and the good work of SIT officers, the attacker's modus operandi was uncovered. A woman approached Rajiv Gandhi and, pretending to welcome him, went over to receive his blessing. She then detonated the bomb, ensuring that the former prime minister would not survive at all costs. An intelligence officer named Anusuya, who was part of the event's security team, managed to survive. She told Kaarthikeyan and his team that she had seen the suicide bomber before her eyes; in fact, she kept telling him to stay away.
She confirmed that the SIT was on the right track and that the woman in the photo was, in fact, the suicide bomber. But the biggest breakthrough came when a low-ranking LTTE operative was captured by local police on suspicion of involvement in the conspiracy. Shankar wouldn't reveal anything, but Kaarthikeyan and his men knew how to approach the situation and dismantle a person. Shankar eventually told the SIT that, in addition to the suicide bomber named Dhanu, there was a couple named Nalini and Das who played a key role in the plan. But the biggest victory for the SIT came when they discovered that the man, who had been cut out of the photo published by the newspaper, was the mastermind behind the murder. The man was Sivarasan, a high-ranking LTTE member who had devised the entire plan and led the team from the front. That revelation kicked off a search that lasted more than two months, and Kaarthikeyan and his men encountered multiple obstacles before finally getting to the root of the matter.
Haribabu, the journalist hired to photograph the incident, had a girlfriend whose house was often used by LTTE operatives as a refuge. Kaarthikeyan ordered his men to keep a close watch on the house, knowing that someone important would arrive there sooner or later. Kaarthikeyan was not mistaken, as Nalini and Das did arrive, but they were unable to catch them due to an error in judgment by the officials present. Kaarthikeyan and his team tracked down a man named Ravisankar, whose camera had been used by Haribabu to take photos that day. Through him, the team learned that a man named Bhagyanathan, a printing press owner, was also somehow involved in the conspiracy.
Bhagyanathan and his mother were taken for interrogation, and the SIT had to make a great effort to get them to reveal their secret. A shocking revelation came when it emerged that Nalini was Bhagyanathan's sister, and the family knew of her deep support for the organization's cause: a separate state for Tamil minorities.
Soon after, Nalini and Das, whose real name was Murugan, were captured. For many days, the two remained silent and made it abundantly clear that they would not betray their cause. It was then that Captain Ravindran of the National Security Guard asked Kaarthikeyan to allow him to try a different tactic to destabilize them. He knew he would have to cross certain moral and legal boundaries to do so, but Kaarthikeyan gave him the green light because he had also run out of ways to make them confess.
Ravindran provoked Murugan by pretending to have lustful intentions toward his companion, Nalini. He locked Murugan in and then entered Nalini's room, making her feel that he was going to physically abuse her. Nalini began to scream, and without even touching her, Ravindran managed to break them both. Murugan agreed to reveal all the information he had, as he didn't want anything to happen to Nalini. Thanks to the information he provided, the SIT raided all LTTE safe houses and arrested a group of agents working on Indian soil.
Sivarasan was a complex man, and sometimes his way of thinking and approaching certain issues didn't coincide with that of the LTTE leaders. Sivarasan didn't want to stop after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination; he wanted to attack other politicians and send a strong message to the Indian government. His next target was supposedly Jayalalitha, but the LTTE leaders strictly ordered him not to attack her. Trichy Sanathan, head of the terrorist organization's political wing, frequently visited Sivarasan's safe house and repeatedly told him to keep a low profile for a while. Trichy wanted to send Sivarasan back to Jaffna, but after the capture of Shanmugam, the smuggler whose ferries these militants used to travel to Jaffna, the situation became complicated.
Shanmugam was arrested and had to be eliminated, as the LTTE did not want him to leak information to Kaarthikeyan and his team. Sivarasan attempted to escape by sea once but was unable to do so due to heavy patrolling in the area. A gasoline tanker was used to take Sivarasan and his people to Bangalore, as Trichy believed they would find safe passage from there to Jaffna. However, the truck driver was captured and informed the SIT of Sivarasan's whereabouts. Although the SIT did not know the exact location, they eventually managed to track down the LTTE commander. They found the house where he was hiding with his people, and the plan was to force their way in and capture him alive.
But something unprecedented happened that left Ammit Verma and all the other SIT members in a state of shock. Kaarthikeyan informed his team that from then on, the decisions would be made by Vijay Karan and that until his arrival in Bangalore, they were not authorized to carry out an attack. The NSG commandos, SIT members, and everyone else waited there, and Amit Verma simply couldn't understand why they were doing so.
Once Vijay Karan arrived on the scene, there was another delay as the SIT was informed that the injections they were using as an antidote to save LTTE members who attempted suicide by consuming cyanide were expired. Captain Ravindran literally begged Vijay Karan to let him attack while the element of surprise still existed, but he was refused. In the end, when the assault team finally received the order to enter the safe house, it was too late. Sivarasan and the others took their own lives, and many secrets that could have likely shaken the entire system were never revealed.
At the end of the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, Amit Varma told Kaarthikeyan that he didn't think it was a victory for the SIT. He said they literally missed opportunities when they could have easily fallen and captured Sivarasan. Amit didn't say so, but he seemed to suspect foul play. It was possible that there were people who didn't want Sivarasan to come out alive for various reasons. Perhaps there was also political involvement, which is why Vijay Karan caused those unnecessary delays. Kaarthikeyan still accepted that this was how the system worked, to a certain extent, but Amit simply wouldn't accept it.
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