The rifle butt incident took place on July 30, 1987 during a guard of honour at Sri Lankan President's house, when the Indian Peace Keeping Force was stationed in Jaffna and the ultra-nationalists in Sri Lanka led by Premadasa and JVP (Janata Vimukthi Peramuna)were raising a crescendo about withdrawal of IPKF from the island nation.
Had Rajiv Gandhi not ducked, the rifle butt would have hit him on his head. Vijitha Rohana was immediately overpowered, disarmed and jailed for six years after a court martial.
He was later released after about two and a half years by Sri Lankan president R Premadas through a presidential pardon.
Vijitha Rohana says it was an "on-the-spur" moment decision to hit the Indian prime minister. He refused to talk more about the incident.
