Human Bomb is different from suicde bombers

THE FIRST HUMAN BOMB
A book authored by
Prof Dr P Chandra Sekharan

narrates in first person the untold story of the Assassination of the Rajiv GandhiAssassination

Foreword by Justice Dr AR Lakshmanan

I had occasions, as former founder Chancellor of the National Law University, Jodhpur to interact with Prof. Chandra Sekharan, when he was also associated with the University as its founder Pro Vice- Chancellor, as well as the founder Director-Professor of the School of Science and Forensic Sciences.
I had also known about the distinguished services of Prof. Chandra Sekharan when he served as Director-Professor of the Forensic Sciences Department, Government of Tamil Nadu for more than two decades. Prof. Chandra Sekharan’s contributions to the development of Forensic Science have been of such a uniformly high standard that his standing not only in India but in the international community as well, has brought him to the forefront of the world’s Forensic Science Experts. Indeed his research and achievements are of such magnitude that he has made an indelible mark on a branch of science that is of vital interest and importance to life and security on this planet. No wonder the President of India had honoured this great scientist with the award of Padma Bhushan during the millennium year.
I have written about Prof Chandra Sekharan in my book ‘Voice of Justice’ thus:- “It is a matter of record that it is only the meticulous use of forensic science by Professor P. Chandra Sekharan, the world-renowned forensic scientist, that gave the world the news within 24 hours that Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a human bomb and that the human bomb was a woman, wearing the explosive-loaded belt bomb around her waist”
Now I am delighted to read the manuscripts of Prof Dr Chandra Sekharan’s book on “The First Human Bomb” which gives a first hand knowledge about the crucial scientific investigation conducted by Professor Chandra Sekharan before the Special Investigation Team of the Central Bureau of Investigation came into the picture. I find a real pleasure in writing a foreword to this monumental work.
The entire book makes for an interesting read written as it is in a story telling format. The book tempts us to complete the reading in one sitting, its easy flow of language like that of ‘an Oxford Don’. I borrow this phrase from my distinguished friend-gentleman-police officer Mr. F.V. Arul, who made this remark after reading Prof Chandra Sekharan’s regular contributions in the weekly, The Harrington Post, “Your English is better than that of an Oxford Don”.

While unraveling the mystery behind the explosion at Sriperumpudur on the fateful May 21, 1991 in his inimitable style, Professor Chandra Sekharan’s narration is impregnated with very many anecdotes of useful information about medico-legal practice the world over, explosive chemistry, examination of bomb-blast injuries, bombs and bomb laws and many other aspects of investigative techniques and forensic science. His coverage on topics such as ‘toxicology of cyanide’, ‘suicide and suicide terrorism’ and ‘personal identification’ is of interest to all those who have an intuitive and investigative mind. I agree with Professor Chandra Sekharan when he says that ‘no observation is puerile or petty in forensic situations’. I found this wonderful creation to be a gift not only to the fraternity of police-scientist-judiciary combine, but to the entire humanity. Experts would indeed enjoy reading this book; the lay readers even more.

Excerpts from the book

......The dead bodies of all the sixteen individuals who were killed along with Rajiv Gandhi were identified and claimed. Only one human body with dismembered parts was not identified. When I scrutinized the dismembered parts I found a severed head and two lower limbs. The facial parts of the severed head were intact and recognizable. The forehead was beautified with a bindi and the fully grown, long scalp hair was bedecked with kanakambaram flowers (crossandra acanthacea), indicating that the severed head belonged to a woman .....

.....It struck me that the cloth pieces found on the dismembered parts of this female matched the cloths fused with the denim belt pieces picked up at the scene of crime. I had therefore come to a fair decision that this female individual wore the denim belt bomb device, which exploded at the scene. It also occurred to me that the belt bomb should have been worn around her trunk, since the entire trunk of this female individual was shattered to pieces. Could not these shattered pieces of her body themselves have acted as shrapnel (missiles)? Couldn’t her trunk then be said to form part of the belt bomb? Yes. I recollected the injuries inflicted on the lower limbs of Rajiv’s body. They resembled the blunt injuries caused by the heavy blow of hard stones. Surely these injuries were not caused by the blast effect but by the trunk bones which could have acted as high speed missiles. If this was true, Rajiv’s assassin was something more than the suicide bomber of the World War II era. She herself was the bomb. A human bomb!

............The depression on the carpet and the consequential ruptures were caused by the impact of the high-speed trunk bones, which after ricochet flew off in different directions. Some of the trunk bones projected by the explosion had directly or after ricochet hit Rajiv Gandhi and the others killed in the blast. The injury pattern on Rajiv Gandhi and the others confirm this. Indeed she is a human bomb hitherto unknown, her body having formed part of the bomb and her bones also acting as missiles. Again, a human bomb is indeed different from a suicide bomber.