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HT THIS DAY: November 1, 1984 — Prime Minister Indira Gandhi shot dead; 12-day mourning announced
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on the lawns of her residence here by two of her security guards
New Delhi- Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who steered the nation for 15 daunting and often turbulent years to bring India on the threshold of greatness, was assassinated this morning on the lawns of her residence here by two of her security guards.
Both the assailants were shot at by the other security guards in the Prime Minister’s house. One of them, sub-inspector Beant Singh, died on the spot while the other, constable Sabwant Singh, is reported to be serious in hospital. Beant Singh had been on security duty at the Prime Minister’s house for eight years.
A pall of gloom spread over the country as reports came that doctors at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences were waging a desperate but losing battle to save Mrs Gandhi’s life. The Prime Minister, who received 16 bullets from an automatic gun and a pistol at point-blank range around 9-15 a.m., passed away at 2-30 p.m.
Within hours of her passing away, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in by President Zail Singh as the new Prime Minister. The President advanced his schedule of a three-nation tour to return to the country on learning of the assassination attempt on Mrs. Gandhi.
Mr Rajiv Gandhi also rushed back to the Capital from West Bengal. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Railway Minister Ghani Khan Chaudhury also were away in Calcutta and Home Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao was in Andhra Pradesh. They all flew back to the Capital, and Defence Minister S. B. Chavan was on his way back from Moscow.
Mrs Gandhi’s body, draped in tricolour, was taken from the hospital to her residence at 1, Safdarjung Road at 9.30 p.m. The body on a gun carriage will lie in state at the Teen Murti House where her father Jawaharlal Nehru lived as Prime Minister. The funeral takes place on Saturday.
State mourning will be observed throughout the country for 12 days (upto Nov. 11), it was officially announced here tonight.
Central Government offices all over the country will remain closed tomorrow.
During the period of mourning, the national flag will be flown at half-mast throughout the country, and there will be no official entertainments.
A black-bordered extraordinary gazette notification was issued this evening announcing the sad demise of the Prime Minister. Signed by the Home Secretary, the gazette notification said the “Government of India announced with most profound regret the death of Shrimati Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India at New Delhi, on 31st October. 1984.”
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, who would have been 67 on Nov. 19, and who was described by Sarojini Naidu at her birth as a “new star on India’s horizon” was respledent in a saffron saree when the assassins struck. She was getting ready for a session with an Irish Television team led by the renowned British actor, Peter Ustinov. Mr Ustinov, who had accompanied Mrs Gandhi on her tour of Orisa from where she returned last night, told a news agency that the TV camera could take shots of the Prime Minister when she lay in a pool of blood.
Around 9 a.m.. word was sent to her at the Saidarjung Road bungalow that the TV team was ready for filming. Mrs Gandhi came out and walked towards the lawns of the adjoining 1, Akbar Road bungalow forming part of the Prime Minister’s house complex. Near the gate that led to the Akbar Road bungalow, the two assailants shot at her. There were no family members with the Prime Minister. As she slumped on the lawns, other security guards fired at the assailants.
Mr H. Y. Sharada Prasad, Information Adviser to the Prime Minister, who was waiting with the television team, told newsmen he heard the shots and ran towards the direction from where the sound came. The Akbar Road bungalow presented a direct view, and as he reached the spot he found the Prime Minister being attended to by the security staff.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi with some relatives rushed out of her house amidst a loud shriek. Behind Mrs Gandhi were her Special Assistant, Mr R. K. Dhawan, and Mr D. K. Bhatt, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Special Security Zone.
Mrs Gandhi was helped into an ambassador car and rushed to’ the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences at 9.30 p.m. Dr A. N. Safaya, Medical Superintendent of AIIMS, said that Mrs Gandhi was alive when she was brought to the emergency ward. A team of doctors headed by Prof Venugopal attended on her. The 16 bullets on her chest and abdomen were extricated but, despite the doctors’ heroic efforts, the Prime Minister passed away at 2-30 p.m.
Soon after Mrs Gandhi was taken to the AIIMS, Central Ministers, MPs and senior officers converged there. The entire hospital complex was cordoned off and security tightened. A security ring was also placed around the 1, Safdarjang Road bungalow.
Cabinet Secretary Krishnaswamy Rao Sahib and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr P. C. Alexander, who were away in Bombay returned in the afternoon and went straight to the AIIMS.
Among the large number of people at the AIIMS was Mrs Maneka Gandhi, accompanied by her son, Varun. Many others who rushed to Delhi on hearing about the assassination attempt on Mrs Gandhi were, however, prevented from entering the AIIMS by the security staff.
Thousands of people were collecting outside newspaper offices eager to learn about the latest on the Prime Minister’s condition. Many among them were heard claiming that some foreign radio stations had pronounced her dead around 12 noon.
According to official sources, sub-inspector Beant Singh had endeared himself as a household member. He was not on morning duty, and had been assigned the afternoon shift. But he came on the morning duty, reportedly on the plea of indisposition.
It could not be established immediately whether Beant Singh was aware of the fact that the Prime Minister had cancelled all her programmes of the day except three, including the interview with the television team. Mrs Gandhi’s day usually began with meeting a large number of people who would gather at 1, Akbar Road. She did not go through with this today, presumably because of a tiring tour of Orissa from where she flew back last night.
By nightfall, security arrangements were being tightened in the city not only to ensure that communal harmony was not ruffled but in preparation of the large number of VIPs expected to arrive in Delhi in the course of the next two days to pay their homage to Mrs Gandhi and attend her funeral.
Till late in the night, messages of condolence had been pouring into Delhi from all over the country and the world where she had attained a new stature with her election in March, 1983, as chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement.
PTI, UNI add:
The body of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was brought tonight to her residence in a gun-carriage and was received tearfully by shocked family members and close friends.
The body was draped in a tricolour and carried on a gun-carriage towed by an Army three-tonnor. The four-km route was cordoned off by armed policemen.
Mrs Gandhi was dressed in a fawn-coloured sari.
The family of sub-inspector Beant Singh is reported to be missing from the police officer’s house in the security lines, according to police.
Police sources said when a special force set up to investigate the slaying raided the house in Teen Murti lines, they found a padlock and neighbour, when contacted, said that the family had left the house about five days ago.
No one seemed to know about their whereabouts.
Beant Singh, was a 1950 batch officer of the Delhi Police and had been with the Prime Minister’s security for around 10 years. He was one of the most trusted bodyguards of Mrs Gandhi, security officers at 1, Safdarjung Road said.
Satwant Singh, the second assailant, joined duty only three days ago after a two-month leave in Punjab.
He belonged to the Seventh Battalion of the Delhi Armed Police and joined the Prime Minister’s security district a few months ago.
Satwant Singh’s sten-gun, which carried 30 rounds, was fully emptied, the sources said.
Mrs Gandhi was shot from a distance of seven feet, according to the sources.
The entire security unit at the Prime Minister’s house is being interrogated for any possible links with the assassins.
