Wanted Lankan minister may be put on watch list

Chennai police have confirmed the details of the criminal cases pending against Sri Lankan minister Douglas Devananda, part of the delegation of Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in Tamil Nadu. Sources in the ministry of external affairs said Devananda was not on any watch list of visitors with criminal records. However, now, in view of all this,he is likely to be put on a watch list, a source said, referring to the TOI report on Thursday that Devananda was a proclaimed offender in connection with a murder in Chennai in November 1986.

If there is anything legal, I am prepared to face it, Devananda told reporters in Delhi. When contacted by TOI, he said he was surprised by the furore because he was given to understand that he enjoyed amnesty under the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord of 1987. He said he had made several visits to Delhi and Chennai since he was elected an MP in 1994 and subsequently became a minister for traditional industries and small enterprises development, representing the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party in the Rajapaksa cabinet. I have been coming to India for political, official and medical reasons for years, Devananda told TOI from Shimla. Devananda had been charged with murder,attempt to murder and rioting in the 1986 case following the death of a person in gunfire by the separatist Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) at Choolaimedu in Chennai. The minister also faces a couple of cases for kidnapping and criminal intimidation dating back to the years when he spearheaded the militant pro-Tamil movement.
===========================
(source-toi)