Perarivalan's statement in Rajiv case not recorded verbatim

“What pricks me is Arivu said he did not know why they asked him to buy this (battery); he said that. But while recording that statement I did not record this statement that he did not know (about the batteries). Investigation was in progress, so I did not write it. Though strictly speaking, law expects you to record the statement verbatim. But in practice we don't do that,” Thiagarajan, tasked with recording the statement of the accused in the case, said.  

The statement was taken “superficially” and they jumped to a conclusion as if Perarivalan was aware of the plot to kill Gandhi, he said.

The retired Kerala cadre officer's remarks come 22 years after the assassination of Gandhi by an LTTE suicide bomber.