Kajeepan Sarmila, the widow of Ponniah Selvanayagam Kajeepan (alias Gobi), was detained at the Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday, when she was about to leave for Switzerland, informed sources said.

 

They said that Sarmila was prevented from leaving the country although she had valid Swiss visa due to the ongoing inquiry against her late husband, who was shot dead during a clash with the army in the jungles off Padaviya in April this year. Gobi was allegedly leading attempts to revive the now defunct LTTE.

 

Soon after Sarmila’s brief detention at the airport, an official from the Swiss Embassy in Colombo had arrived and requested the immigration officials to release her as she was going to attend the wedding of a relative in Switzerland and had a valid visa.

 

However, the immigration officials had told the official that an investigation was ongoing relating to her husband and they could not allow her to proceed. Later an official from Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) had recorded a statement from her and allowed her go home pending further investigations.
The authorities have initiated an inquiry into how she obtained a visa while an inquiry was going on. (Sunil Jayasiri)