House of terror

by Senthalir

(May 25, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Blood splattered on the floor, seven bodies of Tamil Tigers lay in a house in Konanakunte, Bangalore. Six confederates consumed cyanide and one shot himself on August 21, 1991. It was said to be a major crackdown against LTTE after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991.

Eighteen years have passed since then. In the meantime, LTTE continues its ‘fight for liberation.’ As for the ‘marked’ house in Konanakunte — its inmates have finally found their peace. The once isolated house, rented by the LTTE, has changed and stands a mute witness to the fast developing City.

Metro — that ushered in a revolution in the wholesale market — on Kanakapura Road welcomes you to the busy lane that leads to Konanakunte. Closer to the main road, large number of shops and houses have mushroomed around the ‘LTTE house’, — as it is known in the neighbourhood.

“In 1991, there were only three houses, including ours, in the vicinity and we had to walk long distances even to make a phone call,” says Jayashree, the house owner. Now, things have changed. The outskirts of the IT hub have grabbed their share of progress.

Going back to those dreaded days, Jayashree recalled how their unsuspecting parents rented the house to Ranganath, the LTTE contact man. “My husband S Ananthamurthy, then an executive engineer with the Karntaka Power Corporation, was transferred to Shakthinagar (Raichur) and we had to move along with him. We asked my parents to rent the house.” Incidentally, Ranganath approached them through a local person called Muniyappa. He being a local, they gave him the house on rent. “After three days, when my parents were on their way to finalise the agreement, they saw thousands of police surrounding the house. My mother broke down and explained to the police that they were unaware that LTTE was using the house as their hideout.”
For five-and-half years, the house was made a police outpost. But, Ananthamurthy’s transfer to Haridwar made Jayashree come back to Bangalore with her two daughters. “I was concerned about my daughters’ future and I feared that frequent transfers would affect their education. That was when I decided to come back to the City.”

After a month of great ordeal, they got back the house from the police department. “When we visited our house, the police tried to scare us saying that the house was haunted by the ghosts of the LTTE cadres Sivarasan and Shubha. But those things never affected us,” she quips.

Our house was in a bad state and we renovated it according to vaastu. Though government paid us a compensation of Rs 25,000 for the damages, it took more than three months to renovate, Jayashree says. Her husband Ananthamurthy claims that it is just like any other normal house except that it was used by the LTTE for their gains.

As time passed, the haunting memories of the dead LTTE cadres have faded away. People hardly remember the incident and there are no more inquisitive on-lookers pointing towards the house. “Earlier, the state intelligence used to visit the house regularly to keep a check. But slowly they have also stopped appearing after confirming that we never had any links with the Tamil Tigers,” say the owners of the house. “We never had any problems from the LTTE as well and this house is like any other normal house,” concludes their daughter Sankriti, who is planning to pursue her Masters in Dental Science.

A calm and composed family moves, taking things on a positive note undeterred by the past happenings.
- Sri Lanka Guardian