Chennai:
The names of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran and his deputy Pottu Amman have been removed from the list of accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by a designated court here as both were killed in the island republic army's offensive.
"The case against the absconding accused A1 Prabhakaran and A2 Pottu Amman, alias Shanmuganathan Sivasankaran, is hereby dropped and the charges against them ordered abated", TADA court Judge K Dakshinamurthy said recently accepting the CBI's report in this regard.
Prabhakaran, named as prime accused and Pottu Amman as accused number two, had been charged with conspiring in assassinating Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.
The judge's action followed a report by CBI's Multi Department Monitoring Agency (MDMA), formed to probe the conspiracy angle behind the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.
According to Indian laws, charges against the accused abate after their death and the dropping of the names of the two top leaders of the now decimated organisation is seen as India acknowledging that Prabhakaran is no more alive.
The Court's decision to drop their names comes amidst claims by pro-LTTE groups and parties in Tamil Nadu including the Vaiko-led MDMK that Prabhakaran was alive.
The Sri Lankan forces had displayed the bullet-riddled body of the Tigers chief at Nanthikadal lagoon last year after he had planned to escape with some of his aides but was surrounded by the army.