"I had read about it in a book written by Maddy Martin, wife of the Doon school headmaster John Martin and Rajiv also later confirmed it," the Rajya Sabha MP told PTI.
Recalling the past, Aiyar said "I was joint secretary of Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 and he was the Prime Minister. I was travelling with him to Dehradoon to participate in the celebrations of 50 years of the foundation day of the school. I read Martin's book in the flight where it was written that when Rajiv's grandfather and the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru reached the school to meet him, he was nowhere to be seen."
The Congress MP said finally the 11-year-old child was found hiding in a basket in the bathroom after the search. "It was written in the book that because of Rajiv's shy nature he was hiding there," he said.
Aiyar had to meet Rajiv in the evening to finalise the school's foundation day speech. "I asked Rajiv about the incident written in the book and he said it was true. But he said the reasons for hiding were different."
Rajiv had mentioned the incident in the foundation day ceremony speech.
Describing the reasons for his hiding, Rajiv told me that it was not to avoid Nehru or keeping a distance from politics, Aiyar said.
"Rajiv said whenever he was saying something in favour of Nehru to his friends, they would tell that he was advocating his grandfather's views and when he would say something opposite then his friends would maintain that he was opposing the views of a learned person," he said.
Recalling Rajiv Gandhi taking over the reins of the country in 1984, Aiyar said "there was no preparation whatsoever done by Rajiv when he became PM (in 1984). No one one knew his capacity when 40-year-old Rajiv became PM.
"People were surprised to find that a person who had never shown any interest in politics had proved his mettle through his thought and new agenda," the Congress leader said.
