Madras HC confirms conviction of three LTTE supporters

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras HC, on Tuesday, confirmed the conviction of three LTTE supporters, who had been arrested by Q Branch police in 2015 for trying to revive the banned organisation and reduced the punishment of two of them from 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment to seven.

Justice K Murali Shankar passed the order on a joint appeal filed by the trio—Krishnakumar, Rajendran and Subaskaran—challenging the decision made by the Ramanathapuram Sessions Court in 2018.

According to the prosecution, in an attempt to revive LTTE, the trio had procured arms and cyanide capsules and were preparing to carry out attacks in Sri Lanka. Krishnakumar and Rajendran were arrested in Uchipuli  in 2015 and five days later, Subaskaran, who was aiding them by collecting funds from LTTE supporters living in foreign countries, was arrested.

While Rajendran was convicted and sentenced to undergo five years’ RI, Krishnakumar and Subaskaran were imposed with 10 years’ RI. The trio challenged the conviction but the court upheld it. But, considering that Krishnakumar and Subaskaran have already served six years and 10 months, the judge modified their sentence to seven years’ jail term, after getting an undertaking from them that they would leave India immediately after their release. Rajendran had already served his punishment and was released during the pendency of the appeal.