India’s ED to question jailed Sri Lankan woman in LTTE funding case

The Enforcement Directorate of India (ED) has secured permission from a Chennai court to interrogate Sri Lankan national, Letchumanan Mary Franciska, in connection with a money laundering probe linked to an alleged attempt to revive the banned terrorist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Indian media reported.

Franciska, who has been lodged at Puzhal Central Prison since her arrest in October 2021, will be questioned for two days inside the prison premises, NDTV reports. 

The court, in its order earlier this week, described the matter as a “peculiar case” and allowed Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to carry laptops, printers, and other necessary equipment during the interrogation.

According to investigators, Franciska entered India in December 2019 on a tourist visa. She is accused of obtaining fraudulent identity documents, attempting to access dormant bank accounts, and channeling funds allegedly meant to aid the regrouping of LTTE cadres.

Her arrest at Chennai airport in October 2021 set off a wider probe. The Tamil Nadu CID first booked her for overstaying her visa and securing an Indian passport through forged papers. The case later revealed a suspected plot to mobilise resources for the LTTE’s activities.

Franciska’s statements reportedly led to the arrest of seven other individuals, including T Kenniston Fernando and K Baskaran. The case was subsequently handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which linked the conspiracy to Umakanthan, a Sri Lankan Tamil based in Denmark and described as a former LTTE operative, the report said.

The NIA alleges that Franciska, acting under Umakanthan’s instructions, sought to siphon over Rs 42 crore from an inactive account in Indian Overseas Bank. Investigators also traced foreign remittances allegedly routed to her associates to support the plot.

Last year, a tribunal of the Delhi High Court upheld the Centre’s decision to extend the ban on LTTE, noting that remnants of the group continued to engage in fundraising and propaganda despite the outfit’s military defeat in 2009.

Franciska’s case is among four registered by the NIA between 2020 and 2022 concerning suspected LTTE-linked activities in India and Sri Lanka, according to the NDTV report.

--Agencies