CB-CID gets custody of Sri Lankan police officer arrested in Ramanathapuram

COIMBATORE: The Crime Branch-CID on Thursday got four days custody of Sri Lankan police official Pradeep Kumar Bandara who was arrested by the Ramanathapuram district police.
Coimbatore CB-CID DSP OH Raju, who is currently investigating Sri Lankan underworld don Angoda Lokka's suspicious death case, was asked to probe Ramanathapuram case as well.
Kumar Bandara, 31, was wanted in Colombo in connection to a drug smuggling case.Bandara's elder brother was a close aid of Angoda Lokka.
Bandara -- a police constable attached to Colombo police force in Sri Lanka -- developed a nexus with drug smugglers. He allegedly smuggled 23kg of drugs from Colombo port and handed them over to his elder brother.
His elder brother was arrested by the Colombo police recently, and Pradeep Kumar managed to escape.
On September 5, he reached Mandapam in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu illegally in a ferry. He was arrested by the Ramanathapuram police and lodged in Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai.
Director general of police (DGP) J K Tripathy ordered CB-CID officials, Ramathapuram district, to take over the case from Mandapam police and appointed DSP Raju as the investigating officer.
Raju filed a petition before the judicial magistrate court -II at Ramanathapuram seeking five days of police custody and the court granted four days of custody on Thursday. The officials were instructed to produce Bandara before the court on Monday.
He was then taken to CB-CID police office in Ramanathapuram district for further interrogation.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that arrested Sri Lankan police constable Bandara’s elder brother was a close aide to Angoda Lokka in selling drugs.
Lokka died of a sudden cardiac arrest in Coimbatore city.
Currently, the CB-CID team is trying to investigate if there was any connection with Lokka and Bandara.
“Pradeep Kumar Bandara is the most wanted person in the Sri Lankan police department. We are expecting the Sri Lankan police to approach the Tamil Nadu police through a diplomatic level soon for repatriation of Bandara,” an official said.
Bandara told the police that a fisherman offered to help him. That’s why he managed to escape from Colombo. However, on reaching Mandapam, he could not connect to the fisherman.
The CB-CID team has launched a search for the fisherman.