The CBI has not left its pursuit to unravel the conspiracy behind the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
BERLIN: Even after 17 years, the CBI has not left its pursuit to unravel the conspiracy behind the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and recently an agency team was here seeking banking details of alleged LTTE financier Kumaran Padmanathan.
Diplomatic sources here said that CBI Director Vijay Shanker held talks with his German counterpart and Federal agency Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) chief Jorg Ziercke.
During the talks, they said, the CBI took up the matter of financial transactions of Sri Lankan national Padmanathan or "KP", who is alleged to be a major gun-runner for the LTTE.
The talks were part of the bilateral exchanges between the two countries to pave the way for signing of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, besides being a return visit by the CBI Director in response to an invitation extended by his German counterpart when he had visited India last year.
The Indian delegation stressed on execution of Letters Rogatory (LRs) which were pending with the German authorities for long. The LRs were issued by Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) to various countries, including Germany.
But the main impediment for the CBI was that several countries - including Germany, Australia, Switzerland and the Netherlands - demanded an undertaking that the death penalty would not be imposed or carried out against any such person whose details were sought in the Rajiv Gandhi case.
This demand was renewed by German authorities during the talks when the Indian side raised the issue of pending LRs issued by the Indian courts on request Of the MDMA, the sources said.
"Some breakthrough needs to be evolved as the conspiracy behind the case has to be unravelled completely," said an official, who was a part of the delegation that held talks with BKA.
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