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October     Last updated: October 14: 7:00 p.m.

30 Years

Lalita Shastri suspects Lal Bahadurji was poisoned!!!

Shrimati Lalita thinks that the late Prime Minister did NOT die a natural death. She suspects that the water in his thermos flask had been poisoned. She points out that the body had gone blue—and got very much bloated... This is not a question of the liking or disliking of an individual, it is a national question; it is a question of the correct recording of history. If the people want, let them do everything possible. Let them raise the matter and get an enquiry instituted. But in keeping with the nature of Shastriji, I wouldn't like to raise any controversy. As far as the question of history is concerned, it shall be recorded faithfully, it shall not be falsified. Even then in reply to your questions. I shall tell you whatever I know... The Bangles Incident I tell you an incident. It was just two days before he left for Tashkent. Hari and others had gone to Gandhi Ashram (one of the two Khadi Bhandars in Connaught Place, New Delhi—Ed.) Where some new articles were on sale.

On returning, they said : "Amma, some very beautiful bangles, that you will like, are on sale there. You must get them". When I asked Shastriji about it, he first made fun of it and then said, somewhat seriously, 'Well, you should wear the bangles when I return from Tashkent.' An Old Prediction Apart from this, he had told me about one old thing many a time. When he was 23 or 24 years of age and unmarried, a scholarly astrologer has read his life. He had even told him this that the Zodiacal sign of his wife would be the same as his own. He had also foretold that there would be struggle in his life, promotion and elevation to the top position in the country. In the end, he had said that Shastriji would be killed in a foreign country. After becoming Prime Minister, Shastriji had told us on couple of occasions that now only the last prediction of the astrologer remained to be fulfilled. Sometimes, we wonder whether what the astrologer had said was true... Wrong time of death The time of death, given as 1.32 a.m., is not correct. In this connection I can tell you only two things. When we received the first information about his being unwell, it was 1.07a.m. at the time. All of us felt worried.

On previous occasions whenever Shastriji felt unwell we used to go to the prayer room and give a dip to the idol of Shaligram. This time also, we ran to that prayer room and bathed the idol in milk. Everybody was asked to perform 'jap'. Hardly seven or eight minutes had passed when we received the news of his death. We came to know later on that death had occurred still earlier. To avoid giving us a shock, the news of his illness was put out first. This can give you an idea of the time of his death... Family was kept at a distance Now you have asked about what we saw at the aerodrome when Shastriji's dead body arrived and what peculiar things we noticed when the last ablutions were performed. Look brother, none of us was allowed to go near the body at the airport. Of course I was lost in grief: but Hari tells me that even he had great difficulty in reaching it. There were blue spots on the body of Shastriji. We were not allowed to go near it even when the dead body was being bathed. It was only after much insistence that we were allowed... A cut on the stomach Shastriji's face and body had turned blue and were greatly swollen. You will be surprised to know that his body was bloated that the vest had to be torn off it and the Kurta could be removed only with great difficulty.

I did have suspicion at the time but I was in too distressed a state of mind to think about or question it. The surgical mark on the stomach looked like a plus sign (+). Nobody knows how this came about because the medicine for preserving the body was inserted at the back of the neck and there was also a hole there, out of which blood was still oozing... Even sandal paste could not hide blue spots Later on when some people pointed to the spots on the face someone present quickly brought sandal paste in a small bowl and smeared the whole face with it. I came to know afterwards that the spots could not be hidden in spite of the sandal coating. It is no explanation to say that such a thing happens sometimes in case of heart failure. I have seen Dr. Zakir Husain and some others. The faces in all these cases remained perfectly normal and no disfigurement was notices. October 10, 1970