40 years ago, October 3, 1986: Attempt on Rajiv Gandhi’s life

The assailant, who reportedly surrendered, had fired from behind a veil of creepers covering the concrete canopy at the entrance to the Samadhi. (Archive)

2 min readOct 3, 2026 06:30 AM IST First published on: Oct 3, 2026 at 06:30 AM IST

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi escaped an attempt on his life when an assailant fired at him twice in about 50 minutes at Rajghat. The assailant, who reportedly surrendered, had fired from behind a veil of creepers covering the concrete canopy at the entrance to the Samadhi. Five persons received minor cuts as the cartridge burst after it was fired.

Gunman giving different names

The gunman who made an attempt on the life of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is giving different names for himself, the police sources said. At first he said he was Manmohan Desai of Mathura. A slip was found in his pocket on which the name Manmohan Desai was written in Hindi. That is the name of a Bombay film producer. Later, he said he was Karamjit Singh of Sangrur. Investigators were still unsure of his real identity.

Prime Minister unruffled

“All is well,” Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi told his ministerial and party colleagues who had gathered at the airport to see him off to Nagpur a few hours after the shooting incident at Rajghat. Taking the incident in his stride, the PM did not alter any of his programmes and reached the airport at the scheduled time for departure.

Leaders condemn shooting

Various political leaders, governors, and chief ministers strongly condemned the shooting incident in Rajghat and expressed relief that President Zail Singh, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and other VIPs were unharmed.