The Crime Branch - CID (CB-CID) investigation into the death of Sri Lankan fugitive gangster Maddumage Lasantha Chandana Perera alias Angoda Lokka in Coimbatore in 2020 has come to a wrap-up.
Official sources said the CB-CID is in the final stage of submitting a closure report before the court, stating that the gangster died of cardiac arrest. A senior official, who headed the agency earlier had ruled out chances of foul play in Lokka’s death in 2020 itself.
As per the CB-CID findings, Lokka, who lived in a rented house at Balaji Nagar, near Cheran Ma Nagar, in Coimbatore under the assumed identity of Pradeep Sigh, died of heart attack on the night of July 3, 2020.
However, the sources said the investigation into a second case, which is against eight persons including a Sri Lankan woman, namely Amani Thanji, who lived with Lokka and was present at the time of his death, was continuing. Thanji and seven others are facing various charges, including furnishing false documents, harbouring an offender, criminal conspiracy and forgery of records.
According to investigators, Lokka lived in Coimbatore as Pradeep Singh for around two years. D. Sivakamasundari, an advocate from Madurai, and her friend S. Dyaneswaran from Erode allegedly helped him obtain an Aadhaar card in the name of Pradeep Singh.
“The agency is waiting for certain details from the Unique Identification Authority of India with regard to the procuring of the Aadhaar card,” sources said.
In the second case, the agency filed a chargesheet against Thanji alone a month ago based on a court direction. The foreigner had submitted before the court that she faced various troubles due to the incarceration, the continuing investigation and other formalities, including expiry of visa.
The agency is expected to submit supplementary chargesheet/s against the remaining seven accused based on the progress of the investigation.
Other accused in the second case include Satkunam alias Sabesan, a former intelligence operative of the LTTE who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Chennai in October 2021 for alleged involvement in the smuggling of drugs and arms from Pakistan to Sri Lanka, Chinnasuresh of Sri Lanka, and Soundararajan of Chennai.
They were associated with Lokka and his confidante Chanuka Thananayake alias Ladiya. The CB-CID suspects that Lokka and Ladiya had been doing drugs business while hiding in India.
