Coimbatore: There are many theories being floated as to how a dreaded underworld don with an evidently violent past in Sri Lanka could have died in anonymity in Coimbatore.
A day ago, Tamilnadu Director General of Police, J K Tripathy transferred the case of suspicious death of Angoda Lokka to the Crime-Branch CID from Coimbatore city police. Two fresh FIRs were registered soon after, one under Section 174 CrPC for suspicious death and another one for fabrication of documents, and obtaining Aadhar card by using fake documents.
Maddumage Chandana Lasantha Perera alias Angoda Lokka (35) was living in a rented house till he died under mysterious circumstances. He lived with the pseudo name and identity of R Pradeep Singh.
After a series of murders, smuggling and gang wars in Sri Lanka, he went underground in 2017 eventually coming to Coimbatore. He even supplied protein supplements to many gyms in Coimbatore city.
On 3 July, he was found dead. He was cremated using fake documents by three persons, including two Sri Lankan nationals and a woman from Madurai.
The case took a turn when the Sri Lankan police, based on intelligence reports, alerted Coimbatore police that ‘wanted underworld don’, Lokka was murdered and cremated in Coimbatore.
Subsequently, police arrested Sivagama Sundari (37), Dhyaneswaran (32) and Amani Dhanji (27), the trio who cremated him.
The arrested persons maintained that the death was natural: Lokka fell unconscious and they rushed him to the hospital where he passed away. After obtaining an autopsy report they cremated him.
It then came to light that a fake Aadhar card was submitted to get admission in the hospital and the Peelamedu police had registered a case under section 174 of CrPC for unnatural death.
Amani Dhanji, a Sri Lankan national, was living with Lokka since February 2020. An inquiry revealed that Lokka murdered Amani’s husband in Sri Lanka to begin a life with her. She was pregnant at the time of his death. Recent reports claim that she had aborted the child.
Police are investigating the case to confirm if Amani poisoned him. Further inquiries are underway in the case.