On Monday, Thailand police detained Kumaran Padmanathan, aka KP, a high-profile LTTE terrorist in Bangkok. KP had allegedly financed the plot for killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Interpol police have taken KP into custody, who was holding an Eritrean passport.

According to the report, Shanmugan Kumaran Tharmalingham, popularly known as, Padmanathan has his base in Thailand and Cambodia. He is responsible for controlling the global network for supplying weapons to the Tamil Tigers. CBI said after his detention that his extradition might help Indian agency to unravel the conspiracy behind the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.

On the other hand, the Sri Lanka government is also keen for the extradition of KP. The report said that when Indian authorities confirmed about KP’s detention by Thai authorities, Sri Lankan authorities also started process for extraditing KP to Sri Lanka.

However, KP’s name was not there in the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the Rajiv assassination case because it had no concrete evidence against him in the conspiracy. But, the Jain commission report had mentioned KP’s name as key conspirator in the assassination plot.

Later, CBI formed a multi-disciplinary monitoring agency (MDMA) and issued letters to 23 countries to arrest KP and others accused. At the same time, The Sri Lanka government would try to get hold of KP to stop the continuous supply of arms and ammunition to the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

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