Chennai, Nov 14 (BPNS)

Chanuka Thananayaka,38, an aide of the dead Sri Lankan underworld don,

 Angoda Lokka who was in hiding at Bengaluru was arrested by a team of Crime Branch CID police from Coimbatore. The arrest was recorded on Saturday. Police also arrested another person Jayapal alias Gopalakrishnan (46) for sheltering Chanuka Thananayaka.

According to Coimbatore police, Chanuka Thananayaka was one of the most wanted underworld criminal in Sri Lanka.

Both of them were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Coimbatore, Sanjeevi Bhaskar and remanded to judicial custody on Saturday night.

Angoda Lokka passed away in Coimbatore on July 3, 2020 due to cardiac arrest. He was in hiding at Coimbatore and police arrested a Madurai-based lawyer, Sivakami Sundar for sheltering Lokka while he was in hiding at Coimbatore. Her friend Dhyaneswaran was also arrested by the police for helping Angoda Lokka stay with a different identity. Angoda Lokka’s lover  Amani Dhanji who was staying with him at Coimbatore was also arrested and the three told police during interrogation that Angoda Lokka’s pistol was with Thananayaka.

It was a tip-off to CBCID Superintendent, P. Sivakumar that led to the arrest of Thananayaka and police traced him to Banswadi in Bengaluru. He was tracked at an apartment at Banaswadi owned by the sister of Gopalakrishnan and the police arrested the duo.

Gopalakrishnan was on bail after being arrested by the Kancheepuram ‘Q’ branch police in a case related to the shelter extended to another Sri Lankan national, Suresh who was arrested a few months before. Gopalakrishnan had come out on bail, in that case, a couple of months before.