Two Tamils arrested in Paris over man’s death:

Tiger infighting mounts in Europe

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

Two pro-LTTE activists were arrested in Paris on Friday following the death of Ramesh Sivarupan who is believed to be a member of the Ruthrakumar faction of the LTTE, according to informed sources.

The sources said that Ramesh Sivarupan was kidnapped and taken in a van from his residence in Paris and was found near his house a few days ago with injuries. He succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Paris on Thursday.

Thambiah Ganesh and Kuppilan Ravi, believed to be members of the Nediyavan group of the pro-LTTE faction have been taken into custody by the police in Paris in connection with the death of Sivarupan, sources said. Early last week, the Nediyavan faction burnt thousands of copies of Thainilam, a newspaper in Paris printed by its rival Ruthrakumar faction. The rivalry between the two factions had spread to several parts of Europe with the members of each faction looking for each other, the sources said.

According to sources, the conflict between the two factions sparked off following the annihilation of the LTTE in Sri Lanka last year.

The two factions are demanding that the assets held by the LTTE abroad should be shared, apart from their new ideologies, informed sources said. V. Ruthrakumar, a lawyer by profession domiciled in the United States is the ‘architect’ behind the setting up of the so-called ‘Transnational Government’ of his faction.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu police had advised the Central Government of India not to grant permission for Malaysian Tamil politician P. Ramaswamy to arrive in Tamil Nadu, sources said.

The Tamil Nadu State Government is due to hold an International Tamil Literary conference in Coimbatore later this month.

Several Tamil scholars from various parts of the world have been invited for the event.

However, Tamil Nadu Police which had scanned the background of the Malaysian politico Ramaswamy has instructed the Central government of India to prevent his entry into Tamil Nadu as he was a hardcore LTTE supporter and criticised even the Government of India for its stance against the LTTE, the sources said.