Gandhi assassination: PMO to disclose action on Kapur report?

The CIC has directed the PMO to disclose action taken on the J L Kapur Commission report on Mahatma Gandhi's assassination which reportedly said evidence only points towards theory of Veer Savarkar and his group being part of criminal conspiracy.

The Commission also recommended the top office to build exhaustive archives on Mahatma Gandhi on the lines of recent declassification of files pertaining to Subhash Chandra Bose.

The transparency watchdog transferred an RTI application seeking records related to the assassination of Gandhi on January 30, 1948, subsequent probe and the court case.

The Commission said the petition should be transferred to the PMO for "information" and necessary action to formulate appropriate policy to build archives of records regarding Gandhi's assassination, investigation, trial, punishment, official correspondence, and action taken on the recommendations of J L Kapur Commission.

The government had appointed a Judicial Commission under the chairmanship of J L Kapur to inquire into the conspiracy angle and other aspects of the assassination of Gandhi, Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said.

He said a copy of the Kapur report is available with Indian Law Institute, New Delhi which has a treasure trove of information about Gandhi's death which needs to be probed and an archive could be built in the National Archives of India (NAI).

Citing an article by noted historian and lawyer A G Noorani in 'The Hindu' news paper, Acharyulu said the court had earlier exonerated Savarkar for want of corroborative evidence in support of the approver's confession.

"However, Justice Kapur's findings are all too clear. He concluded: "All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group" (Noorani, AG (March 15-28, 2003). "Savarkar and Gandhi". The Hindu)," he said.