LTTE suspects arrested in Delhi

Three Sri Lankans, suspected to have links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and a Chennai man were arrested in Delhi, allegedly with forge travel documents, police said on Wednesday.

Press Trust of India quoted a senior police official as saying that the Lankans, identified as Francis Jansan (29), T.S. Ranjit (28) and John Mary Agastan (22), were arrested from a hotel in Paharganj of central Delhi.

The fourth person arrested is Ayakannu, who was accompanying the trio. He hailed from Jaffna.

PTI said that Crime Branch sleuths of Delhi Police noticed the suspicious movements of the three near the hotel where they were staying. The searches in their room led to the alleged recovery of forged Indian passports and visa.

“As of now, we have not established that they have any links with Tigers. We have booked them under the relevant sections of the Foreigners Act. Investigations are on into all angles, including the LTTE link,” the official said.

The Lankans are understood to have told their interrogators, that they have procured the documents from a Chennai-based man by paying him money. Meanwhile, investigations have unearthed an LTTE link to Maoists.

The link was unravelled after arrest of five top-ranking Maoists by Koraput police from Tamil Nadu. During investigation, police obtained vital clues that one arrested Naxalite had a direct link with LTTE in Tamil Nadu and the police suspect link of all arrested Maoists with the dreaded terror outfit.

Intelligence sources informed that the entry of Tamil refugees from Jaffna to Malkangiri five years back could have established the link between Koraput Naxalites with Tamil cadres who later established their links with LTTE.

According to reports, the Naxalite cadres were arrested In Tamil Nadu in June, 2007, while imparting training to local unemployed youths in a forest range using looted arms of Koraput. According to police, these cadres were involved in looting the Koraput armoury in February 6, 2004.

After confirming the arms belong to Koraput armoury, a court in Tamil Nadu shifted the case to Koraput SDJM jurisdiction for further legal proceedings. A police team of Koraput under the direction of SP Deepak Kumar rushed to Trichy jail in Tamil Nadu and took custody of the five Naxalites on Monday.

The five Maoists, including a top leader Sundar Murty (30), were produced before the Koraput SDJM court on Tuesday.

They were later remanded to judicial custody. Sources said 303 riffles, double and single barrel bore loading arms and live bullets were seized from them. The arrested cadres were Velu Murugam(19), Palani Velu (26), Muthu Selvam (27) and Kartik (27) apart from Sundar Murty.

Sources said 550 arms including 25,000 live bullets were looted from district armoury which were distributed to various groups in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar for imparting training to unemployed youths.

After the disclosure, intelligence agencies and police forces have been asked to be more vigilant. Newindpress.org