Much-awaited The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case was released on SonyLiv on July 4, 2025. Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case is an adaptation from Anirudhya Mitra’s nonfiction book “Ninety Days”. It revolves around the SIT that was formed to investigate the shocking assassination of (then) Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Since you have landed on this page, True Scoop assumes that you have already watched the series on SonyLiv and are wondering about real-life IPS Officer D.R. Kaarthikeyan, played by actor Amit Sial.
IPS Officer D.R. Kaarthikeyan headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that investigated the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. At the invitation of INTERPOL, he made an audiovisual presentation of the investigation before an assembly of top police officers, who commended Kaarthikeyan for the model investigation. Kaarthikeyan has also been awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 for his contribution to the field of Indian Civil Service. Kaarthikeyan is a 1964 Batch and Karnataka cadre from Tamil Nadu, and a former director of the CBI and Director General, National Human Rights Commission.
As per reports, D.R. Kaarthikeyan is currently the president of Age-Care India. Age Care India is a non-profit organization, is dedicated to the welfare of the elderly in India.
For the unversed, in 2022, the Supreme Court ruled to free AG Perarivalan, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Hours after the 51-year-old’s release, former CBI officer DR Kaarthikeyan reacted to it. He had led investigations as the Joint-Director of the CBI’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was instrumental in chargesheeting Perarivalan and the six other convicts.
Following Arivu’s release, Kaarthikeyan said that he respects the Supreme Court’s decision to free the 51-year-old who had spent more than half his lifetime in prison. However, the former cop said that the SC had not mentioned that Perarivalan or the other six convicts were innocent. He maintained that all the seven convicts who were sentenced to life terms were chargesheeted based on evidence collected after months of investigations by the CBI SIT.
Talking about the characters' guide, it features Amit Sial as D.R. Kaarthikeyan, Sahil Vaid as Amit Verma (SP‑CBI), Bhagavathi Perumal as Ragothaman (DSP‑CBI), Danish Iqbal as Amod Kanth (DIG‑CBI), Girish Sharma as Radhavinod Raju (DIG‑CBI), Vidyut Garg as Captain Ravindran (NSG Commando), and more in the leading role.