RAW team meets CBCID sleuths in Coimbatore over Lankan don's death

The alleged conspiracy regarding the mysterious death of a Sri Lankan underworld don in Tamil Nadu has prompted the visit of a five-member Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) team to the state’s Coimbatore district, said a police officer on Thursday (August 6). They met senior CBCID officials in connection with the death case, he said.

The Crime Branch CID police has taken over the investigation into the death of Maddumage Lasantha Chandana Perera alias Angoda Lokka. It has formed seven special teams to look into various aspects, including his ‘illegal’ stay and fabrication of documents to get Aadhaar card for him. Lokka had changed his name to Pradeep Singh in Aadhaar card.

Lokka allegedly suffered a cardiac arrest and declared brought dead at a private hospital here on July 3. After autopsy at a government hospital,the body was taken to Madurai and cremated. The Federal earlier reported, Tamil Nadu police had received inputs from Lankan agencies the death might be a conspiracy to make people believe that Lokka was dead.

According to the CBCID official, the RAW team came to Coimbatore on Wednesday and held discussions with CBCID Inspector General of Police, K Shankar and other senior officials, as Lokka was wanted in connection with serious offences in the Island nation and in the wake of a ‘red notice’ issued by Interpol.

The team reportedly collected some important documents with regard to Lokka, the official said.

Lankan media had reported the don was poisoned to death in India, following which the island nation police sought the help of Coimbatore police for information.

City Police arrested Sivakami Sundari, Dyaneswaran and Amani Thanji, a Lankan woman, on Sunday on charges of forging documents to get an Aadhaar card for Lokka. According to sources, Amani Thanji’s husband, a rival of Lokka, was killed by the don in Sri Lanka and after that she was staying with him.

In order to establish Lokka’s identity, the CBCID has sent the viscera to Chennai for examination,the police official added.

Related news: Sri Lankan don ‘dies’ in Tamil Nadu, police suspect staged death

Meanwhile, Shankar told reporters the CBCID will take Sivakami Sundari, a Madurai-based lawyer, into custody to find if there was any possibility of LTTE connection after it emerged that she had transactions of nearly ₹1 crore in seven accounts.

Sundari had allegedly assisted the other two in taking the body for cremation in Madurai. Her father is allegedly a known LTTE sympathiser and one of the seven special teams was on the job to establish his possible links with the LTTE, Shankar said.

The agency is checking these money transactions and wanted to know from where she was getting the money and if there was any foreign link, he added. The CBCID IG said that all the three arrested will be taken into custody for interrogation.

(With inputs from agencies)