That the verdict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case is a stirring vindication of the resolute and exacting efforts of the CBI’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) is as clear as day. In delivering his judgment, the Designated Judge of the TADA Court has endorsed not only the incriminatory core but most of the major details in the SIT’s chargesheet. The conviction of all the 26 accused, the acceptance of almost all the major individual charges framed against them and the concurrence that the conspiracy in this case was hatched by the highest rung of the LTTE leadership have together placed an extraordinary judicial stamp on the exertions of those who worked to bring the assassins of the former Prime minister to book. Whether all the 26 accused should have been sentenced to death which is probably a record of sorts is something that is likely to be debated and, like the convictions themselves, is bound to be challenged in the Supreme Court. But in arriving at this stern and uncompromising decision. Mr. Justice V.Navaneetham seems to have been influenced by couple of factors. First, by the profound and convulsive impact Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination had on the democratic process in India. Second, and arguably just as important, because it is important that the verdict has a strong deterrent impact. As the judge himself has suggested, only a severe punishment will dissuade “potential offenders” and deter Indians for associating with any terrorist organization to do such diabolical and heinous crimes”. In this context, it is imperative to remember that the SIT’s investigations particularly when it focused on the role of Tiruchi Santhan, former head of the LTTE’s political wing based in Tamil Nadu revealed a murky and insidious nexus between the Sri Lankan militant organization and its sympathizers in Tamil Nadu, among them Dravidian politicians and Tamil chauvinists. The verdict would have served an unequivocal warning that flirting with the LTTE, or such organizations inimical to Indian interests, could prove extremely costly. At a more general level, the verdict has probably, once and for all, slammed the doors on the LTTE; all those who had hoped, or feared for that matter, that the ban on the organization would be lifted with the passage of time will have to revise their opinions. With the Sri Lankan Government also outlawing the LTTE, following the macabre and senseless bomb blast at Kandy’s famous Temples of the Tooth, the already besmirched image of the militant organization which receives considerable assistance from the network it has in certain foreign countries will take a further beating. The SIT Director, Mr. D.R., Karthikeyan, who has described the verdict as a triumph for truth, has reason to feel extremely satisfied about the outcome. Unlike in other cases of assassinations such as that of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi (Where the assassins were known and the task was limited to working from.