The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday sought response from the State in the bail petitions filed by three accused in the case pertaining to 23 Sri Lankan nationals who were arrested in Madurai after they illegally landed in Thoothukudi.
Justice B. Pugalendhi sought response in the bail petitions filed by N. Alangara Sakkratis, R. Nicholos and S. Jegatheeswaran. The Sri Lankan nationals were promised lucrative jobs in Canada. They were arrested by the Q Branch police.
The case of the prosecution was that the Sri Lankan nationals believed the words of another Sri Lankan national Kannan alias Mayuran who took them in three fibre boats on April 27. He dropped them in a launch in mid-sea.
The Sri Lankan nationals arrived in Thoothukudi on April 28 and reached Madurai secretly. Two other accused persons in the case Ashok Kumar and Kasiviswanathan picked them and dropped them at a body building unit.
They stayed at the unit for more than 40 days without any documents and were not provided proper food and accommodation. Based on secret information, the Q Branch police arrested the accused in the case, including the Sri Lankan nationals.
In their petition, Alangara Sakkratis said that he and his father Nicholos were fishermen from Thoothukudi and were wrongly implicated in the case. Car driver Jegatheeswaran also said that he was falsely implicated.
The accused have been remanded in judicial custody. They said that they would abide by the conditions imposed by the court and sought bail. A case has been booked for human trafficking and under the provisions of the Passports Act and the Foreigners Act.
