Some people seem to be in denial.
CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team reveals that the Tamil Tigers, including Prabhakaran, were trained by the Indian Army.
A rare photograph, available with CNN-IBN shows LTTE guerillas training at Kalathur in Tamil Nadu in 1984-85.
Senior LTTE leaders told have also CNN-IBN that they were recruited by Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) - India's external intelligence wing - and trained by the Indian Army.
"In 1984, I was in Uttar Pradesh. They were training many Tamil groups there. I went in for training with many others. They gave us military training," the head of Tamil Eelam Judicial Services, E Pararajasingham, says.
"My days in Madras are unforgettable. We had many friends at diplomatic, political and bureaucratic level. We had very good relationship at various levels and I wish we can get back to those days," chief of Tamil Eelam Police B Nadesan says.
"We used to friends' houses. India is a multi-cultural country and we used to go to our friends' houses who were in Andhra and Delhi. I would move with them," Nadesan adds.
A book written by LTTE ideologue, Anton Balasingham, available with with CNN-IBN, describes the entire chain of events.
In October 1983, Prabhakaran arrived in India and stayed at a secret location in Pondicherry.
The book says that RAW offered to train 200 LTTE cadres in Dehradun.
Tamizh Kavi, a well known voice on LTTE's radio station, is also candid about the rebel army's Indian connection.
"Indian Army gave us training when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. She and MG Ramachandran extended full support to us and helped our organisation's growth," Kavi says.
The Indian Peace Keeping Force was initially welcomed by Tamils in Sri Lanka, but years of alleged atrocities later, it's only the memories of brutality that remain.
"When IPKF landed in our homeland we were young, less than 10 years. But even now we can feel the pain and fear of the Indian army's brutalities. It's a nightmare that won't go away. Even now we feel that we have an umbilical link with India," a Sri Lankan Tamil, Aruna, says.
"You know the IPKF was sometimes worse than the Sri Lankan army. People suffered a lot. First they did not know the language, secondly they do not understand these people. I talked to some Majors and some higher ranked officers in Vanni and Jaffna and they didn't understand why they are in a war here," chairman of North East Secretariat of Human Rights, Tamil Eelam, Father Karunaratnam says.
A lady who fled Jaffna to escape the IPKF also has some terrible memories.
"I have been a witness to a brutal rape of a girl called Rani. We were helpless and could not protect her and after the IPKF people left, we rushed her to nearby hospital. We are completely shaken up this atrocity," she says.
Pastor Emmanuel, a close associate of Prabhakaran, ran the Jaffna seminary during the IPKF intervention and recalls how his students were marched off to an IPKF camp.
"I could see that they had striped the boys naked and had pumped water on them and electrocuted them. This incidence shook and shattered the trust of the Tamil community towards India," former rector of Jaffna seminary Pastor SJ Emmanuel says.
The pastor feels it was these atrocities that led to Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.
"There were soldiers from north India who did not know the language, did not appreciate the fact that we had a common civilisation with India. They did not know why and for what they were fighting for, they had no idea of history. Ignorance was at the root of India's misadventure in Sri Lanka. And along with the people we disliked them. I do not justify the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, but you can see how it started building up," Emmanuel adds.
Recruited by RAW, trained by Army: LTTE
Many people here, who are in reality insignificant creatures sitting behind a computer and typing away furiously, believe they actually run the Indian government.
