Obituary: Gopal Vinayak Godse

* Gopal Vinayak Godse, conspirator in Gandhi assassination. Died age 86.

Gopal Vinayak Godse, the last surviving conspirator in the assassination of Indian independence leader and pacifist icon Mohandas Gandhi, has died aged 86.

Godse, whose brother Nathuram shot the pacifist who led India to independence, served 16 years in jail for his involvement in the 1948 killing. His brother and another man were hanged.

Godse remained unrepentant for his role in killing Gandhi, who fought for equality in a nation sharply divided by caste. "He was a very cruel person for the Hindus," Godse said of Gandhi in a 2003 interview.

Godse believed Gandhi turned his back on Hindus, allowing British India to be divided in 1947 into today's states of India and Pakistan. In the eyes of Godse and his small band of Hindu extremists, Gandhi's calls for non-violence were part of a plot to allow Hindus to be slaughtered by Muslims.

After his release from jail, Godse lived off royalties from books he wrote on Gandhi and the assassination.