Supreme Court raises ‘serious doubt’ over probe, acquits Sri Lankan refugee in LTTE conspiracy case

The top court was hearing an appeal filed by Ranjan, a Sri Lankan national residing in India as a refugee, whose conviction and five-year sentence imposed by a trial court in July 2024 had been upheld by the Madras High Court.

Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi heard the matter on May 20.

Courts erred in convicting man

• The Supreme Court held that the trial court and high court erred in holding that the man is the same as the absconding accused “Sri”, and the conviction based on this flawed identification cannot be sustained in the eyes of the law.
• It noted that the two witnesses in the case were residing in India as refugees and had procured identity documents such as Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and Indian voter identity cards.
• The Supreme Court questioned why no action was taken by the investigating agency against them, despite material clearly indicating that they had created documents projecting themselves as Indian citizens, even though they did not possess such status.
• It further noted that the prosecution’s case on identity rested solely on the belated testimonies of two witnesses who had never identified “Sri” as “Ranjan” in earlier proceedings and introduced that assertion only after Ranjan’s arrest.
• The Supreme Court held that this aspect, in itself, casts a serious doubt on the manner in which the investigation has proceeded.
• The court said the man was continuously and openly residing in Trichy and had duly registered himself as a refugee.
• The bench set aside the trial court’s order of July 18, 2024, and the judgment dated April 3, 2025, passed by the Madras High Court.
• The Supreme Court held that the man was acquitted of the charges and should be released from the Special Camp, Trichy, immediately.
• It was further held that he should be at liberty to pursue his request for relocation/movement to Switzerland, in accordance with the law.

LTTE conspiracy allegations

It was placed on record that the man is a Sri Lankan national who came to India in 2009 along with his wife and son, holding a legally valid passport issued by the government of Sri Lanka and a valid tourist visa granted by the government of India. His name was recorded in the passport as Ranjan.

It was alleged that before departing from Sri Lanka, the man received clearance from that country’s law enforcement authorities confirming that he did not have any criminal antecedents.

Upon arriving in India, the man and his family registered themselves with the Shankar Nagar Police Station in Chennai as non-camp refugees. Subsequently, in 2012, they cancelled their registration and re-registered themselves with the K K Nagar Police Station in Trichy.

The man stayed in Trichy for more than a decade without any criminal conduct or complaint against his name, the Supreme Court noted.

The wife and son of the accused later went to Switzerland, where they sought asylum and were granted citizenship. The man allegedly also applied for a Swiss visa through his wife, which was granted to him by the Switzerland Embassy in New Delhi by a letter dated July 14, 2021, subject to police clearance in Tamil Nadu.

Arrest by Q Branch

• The Sri Lankan national claimed that while he was waiting for police clearance, to his utter shock and surprise, he came to be arrested by the Q Branch Officers of Ramanathapuram on December 16, 2021.
• The Q Branch is a specialised wing of the Tamil Nadu Police that investigates activities related to terrorism, left-wing extremism and militant organisations.
• It was alleged that the man’s actual name was “Sri” alias “Ranjan” and that he was an accused in a pending case on the file of the trial court. He was accordingly taken into judicial custody and was confined at the Puzhal Prison, Chennai.
• According to the First Information Report (FIR), the police received secret information in May 2015 that a conspiracy was being hatched by Krishnakumar, Subhaskaran, an accused identified as “Sri”, Kumaran and two others to revive the banned LTTE organisation. The conspiracy was allegedly hatched at Arasan Bakery in Trichy.
• It was alleged that, in furtherance of the said conspiracy, “Sri”, the present petitioner, handed over 75 cyanide capsules and 60 grams of chemical used for making cyanide to Krishnakumar, with specific directions to proceed to Sri Lanka by ferry and hand over the same to one “Kavi”, a Sri Lankan national, to re-organise the LTTE cadres and to eliminate rival Tamil leaders.
• The trial court convicted Ranjan under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Foreigners Act, Passport Act and other provisions, accepting the prosecution’s claim that he and “Sri” were the same person in 2024.
• Aggrieved by the same, the man approached the Madras High Court, which affirmed the conviction, leading Ranjan to approach the Supreme Court.

Arguments

Ranjan’s counsel argued before the Supreme Court that the case was one of false implication and mistaken identity, contending that his client had been assigned the identity of a different individual. It was added that the man was never known by the name “Sri”, and there is no evidence to support the prosecution’s theory that he answered to the name “Sri”.

The witnesses on whose evidence the prosecution heavily relied, namely Balachandran and Kumar, were themselves Sri Lankan citizens illegally staying in India based on fabricated documents, it was argued.

It was further claimed that the identification of the accused was done only while he was in police custody, and no test identification parade was held.

The counsel contended before the Supreme Court that the man had been granted the status of a non-camp refugee, along with his wife and minor child, upon their arrival in India 2009 by the government of India and the state of Tamil Nadu, and that the said status continues to subsist.

On the contrary, the state urged that the man was clearly found involved in activities aimed at the revival of the LTTE. The state submitted that the man had conspired with the convicted accused Krishnakumar and had provided him with cyanide capsules and other poisonous chemicals to be carried to Sri Lanka so that the persons who were responsible for the defeat of the LTTE could be eliminated.

It was further submitted before the Supreme Court that since the man has already served out a substantial portion of the sentence of five years awarded by the trial court, the present appeal itself has, to a large extent, lost its efficacy.