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| Rajiv Gandhi |
Twenty years later, the 60-year-old woman feels her life would have been better if she had stayed away from the investigation.
The bitterness isn't without reason — for years, she had to make frequent visits to police stations and courts. Her business suffered and health deteriorated. She spends about Rs 1,000 every month on medicines. She lost her cows, and her hut got damaged. She faced threats for helping police. Of the Rs 15-lakh reward announced for informants, she got only Rs 60,000. What's worse, her son can't get into the police force though he's eligible because he can't afford to pay a bribe.
In August 1991, CBI and police found that Rajiv's assassins were hiding in or around Bangalore. Rajiv had been killed by a suicide bomber on May 21, 1991. Police zeroed in on a solitary house in Konanakunte, then a tiny village near Bangalore. Muniyamma supplied milk to that locality and proved very useful to investigators.
She confirmed to police that it was indeed Sivarasan and gang staying in that house. She also identified Ranganath, who had taken the house on rent. She provided information of what she had seen and heard while supplying milk to them.
