Chennai : Five member of a family of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were arrested at Porur here for allegedly obtaining Indian passports by submitting forged documents.
A press release said following a tip off, Avadi Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore, ordered an investigation by the police.
Investigations revealed that A.Jerald Clagious (49), a Sri Lankan national, who was staying along with his wife and three children were found possessing Indian passports obtained by submitting Voter ID and Aadhaar card of Indian citizens.
On inquiry, it was revealed that Jerald and his family came from Sri Lanka to Chennai in 2007 and were residing at Porur. He had confessed that with a view to migrate to Canada, he obtained Aadhaar and PAN cards by producing fake documents and obtained Indian passports for his children Mary Jensika Reginold, and Mary Sanchika.
Reports said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has been probing the case relating to raising funds for reviving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after the arrest of a Sri Lankan woman Letchumanan Mary Francisco (51) recently, has been informed of the arrest.
An inquiry was on to ascertain whether the Jerald family had any links with the gang, which was busted on 27 January for involving in raising funds for LTTE.
Letchumanan Mary Francisco was detained by the immigration authorities at the Chennai airport recently and handed over to the ‘Q’ Branch police, who arrested her and remanded in custody.
She had moved to Canada several years ago and became a permanent resident there. She was intercepted at the Chennai Airport when she was about to board a flight to Mumbai after authorities found that she was having an Indian passport obtained with fake documents.
During questioning, she revealed how the accused persons operating from European countries deployed operatives to draw huge money from dormant accounts using fake identities/documents.
They have also launched a manhunt to arrest four others, said to be part of an international network of former members or sympathasisers of LTTE, involved in the case, the FIR registered by NIA said.
Acting on information from the Tamilnadu government that Q Branch CID police, dealing with cases of extremism and terrorism, have registered a case and are investigating, the NIA has re-registered a case and has taken up the probe.
The Union Home Ministry has directed the NIA to take up the probe considering the gravity of the case.