KP has no criminal record in SL: Govt tells court

Top LTTE leader Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, wanted in India in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has no criminal record in Sri Lanka or links to any acts of terror, an appeals court was told today by the government A report submitted by the police headquarters to this effect was presented in the court here by Additional Solicitor General Jayantha Jayasuriya. This was in response to an application filed by the JVP or the People s Liberation Front to arrest KP. KP, who succeeded Velupillai Prabakaran after he was killed by the Sri Lankan army in 2009, was brought to the country by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration after he was nabbed in Malaysia. The then opposition including the JVP had alleged that KP's arrest was a deal between him and the then government. Upon his return he was housed under state care and was allowed to run an orphanage in the former LTTE held area in the north. The court was, however, told that further investigations are still underway on other probes related to KP. The court extended until early February the order issued to prevent KP from leaving the country. KP is wanted in India for his involvement in Gandhi's assassination in 1991. He was on an Interpol watch list for murder of former Indian Prime Minister. He was known as the LTTE's international arms procurer during the group's three decades long separatist movement. (PTI)