'I took Lankan don Lokka to Madurai, was unaware of his criminal background'

The man who took the Sri Lankan don Angoda Lokka from Chennai to Madurai claims that he was unaware about his criminal background.

C Dhinakaran, a sympathiser of the LTTE movement, confirmed that it was he who took Lokka to Madurai in 2017. However, he did not have much contact with him later as things didn’t go well between them.

Lokka, 35, a wanted Sri Lankan don, died allegedly after a cardiac arrest in Coimbatore. It was only after his death did Indian authorities come to know he was a wanted criminal in Sri Lanka.

“I don’t remember the date, but it was in 2017. A friend of mine in Sri Lanka had introduced him to me and asked me to provide him accommodation. Such requests from Sri Lanka were not new as I was a sympathiser of the LTTE. I went to Chennai and took him to Madurai by bus,” said Dhinakaran.

“I was with him for a day after which he was taken care of by my daughter in a separate house taken on lease,” he said. His daughter is D Sivakami Sundari, a lawyer, has been arrested for allegedly helping Lokka when he was in Madurai.

“Since he spoke in Hindi and Tamil, I did not suspect him. In the last three years since 2017, I have never heard the name Lokka. I was told a different name, but I don’t remember it now,” added Dhinakaran.

The Coimbatore police have arrested Lokka’s girlfriend Amani Dhanji, 27, who was staying with him since February, and S Dhiyaneshwaran from Tirupur, besides Sivakami Sundari.

According to the police, Lokka was a wanted criminal in Sri Lanka in various cases, including murder and peddling of drugs. After a gang rivalry in 2017, he went underground.

The CB-CID police, who are investigating the case, have also questioned Dhinakaran.

“I have given them all the details I know about him and I also told them it was me who took him from Chennai to Madurai,” Dhinakaran said.

Asked why he was not in touch with Lokka, Dhinakaran said there were differences of opinion between the two right from the time of the first meeting at the Chennai Beach metro station.

“He was advising me, which I did not like. So, a day after reaching Madurai, I stopped talking to him and asked my daughter to take care of him,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources privy to the investigation told The Federal that Sivagami Sundari was not aware that Lokka was a don.

“However, we are looking at why she arranged for an Aadhaar card for Lokka. If the Aadhaar was not arranged in Tirupur, then where did they get it from? We are looking for some answers,” an official involved in the investigation said.