Tamil Nadu: Two Sri Lankan refugees reach Rameswaram, probe underway

Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 25 (ANI): Two Sri Lankan refugees Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram district, the police said on Monday.

The refugees have been identified as V Nesaperumal, 62 years, hailing from Mannar district of Sri Lanka and P Raviatul Athaviya, 64 years hailing om Malwana Raksabana area in Sri Lanka.

On recieving the information, the Coastal Security Group Police rushed to the spot and detained both of them and interrogated them at Mandapam Police Station.

According to the police, the two persons reached Arichalmunya beach next to Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram on Sunday. During the course of the interrogation, the police found that they paid Rs 50,000 each as boat fee and left Mannar at around 10 pm

Also it was found that the two have come here earlier also as refugees from Sri Lanka and were staying at the Mandapam camp. 

V Nesaperumal, who has come now, came here as a refugee in 1983 when the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE started fighting in Sri Lanka and stayed at the Mandapam camp, the police said, adding he went back to Sri Lanka in 2004 and again returned to Mandapam camp in 2006. Since then he has been staying in the Mandapam and has been doing fishing here, the police added.

“In 2019, when he went fishing with fishermen from Mandapam in a boat he was caught by the Sri Lankan navy marines for crossing the border and was imprisoned. While the fishermen were sent back to their homeland, he was kept in Sri Lanka,” the officials said.

It was found that he has been in Sri Lanka for the past 4 years and has now come here in Mysterious boat with the intention of living with his family living in the Mandapam camp.

The second refugee B Raviathul Athaviya has been living in the Mandapam Refugee Camp for many years. While she has been to Sri Lanka often, the last time she went to Sri Lanka was through a one-way passport, the officials added.

The police during the course of their interrogation also found that she had come by boat to Rameswaram with the intention of registering as a refugee as he could not come to India by using passport.

Further investigation in the matter is underway.