The CB-CID has intensified efforts to identify if the man, who lived and died in Coimbatore under the name of Pradeep Singh, was indeed Maddumage Lasantha Chandana Perera, alias Angoda Lokka, a wanted criminal in Sri Lanka. The CB-CID has sent biological samples of the deceased, collected at the time of post-mortem, to a government forensic laboratory in Chennai for DNA profiling to ascertain the identity of the individual through cross matching with that of the DNA of the blood relatives of Lokka in Sri Lanka. “DNA profile-matching is one of the modes to ascertain the identity of the deceased. Certain details of Lokka are with us, which can be compared with that of the deceased to ascertain the identity of the individual, a priority for the investigation team now,” said K. Shankar, Inspector General of Police, CB-CID, to The Hindu on Thursday.
Forged stamp
It is learnt that Lokka was booked by the Tamil Nadu police in Chennai in 2017, allegedly after he made a forged arrival stamping in a fake passport he carried. He reportedly came to India through ferry, illegally, after committing a series of crimes, including murders in Sri Lanka. The fake arrival stamping on the passport was detected at the airport when he tried to go back to Sri Lanka, said sources.
The police had reportedly collected his biometric data. The CB-CID has now accessed certain biometric data of the man who died in Coimbatore on July 3 that can be used for cross-matching with that of Lokka. “We are hopeful of ascertaining the identity of the deceased soon,” said Mr. Shankar.
Sleuths from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had discussions with the CB-CID on the investigation on Wednesday, considering Lokka’s crime history and alleged links he had with LTTE sympathisers.
The officer hinted that the investigators were also checking whether the deceased had received any money from abroad. The police had recovered Qatar dinars, American and Singapore dollars from the house at Cheran Ma Nagar in Coimbatore, where he lived with a Sri Lankan woman named Amani Thanji. Investigators found that the bank account of D. Sivakamasundari of Madurai, who managed to get the body of the deceased and cremated it in Madurai on July 5, had several unusual transactions.
Meanwhile, CB-CID officials raided one S. Dyaneswaran’s house in Tiruppur on Wednesday. A team led by M. Madasamy, SP-Special Investigation Division, CB-CID, conducted the raid at the house in N.R.K. Puram. CB-CID sources said that a laptop, a pen drive and two mobile phones had been seized during the raid.
( With inputs from R. Akileish )
