Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (EP)

Bengaluru, May 11: Security officials in Kempegowda International Airport have arrested a man who landed in Bengaluru on April 28, suspecting him of playing a role in the terror blasts in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

However, further investigations revealed he arrived in Bengaluru by a Qatar Airways flight from Ukraine via Doha to meet his former girlfriend and obtain a non-encumbrance certificate.

Joel Nirushan Samuel whose real name is said to be Irisaha Trinity Pereira supposedly possessed an Indian as well as a Sri Lankan passport. A high alert was sounded by both the Indian and the Sri Lankan governments and a lookout notice issued by the Sri Lankan officials.

As per the FIR, Samuel’s date of birth on both the passports is different. The internal security department and National Investigation Agency officials initially assumed him to be a terror suspect. He was arrested on charges of holding a fake Indian passport and also a lookout circular issued by Assistant Director, Sri Lankan cell, Intelligence bureau headquarters in New Delhi.

However, now the officials have ruled out possibilities of him being a terror suspect and having a role in terror attacks. They also found that the Indian passport he possessed was an expired one.

Another police source claimed that he was an Indian living in Ukraine. He was in a live-in relationship with a Sri Lankan woman and wanted the certificate to get married to her.

Hence, he supposedly contacted his former girlfriend in Bengaluru to help him with the formalities.

The cops are investigating the case and have found that he was arrested for fraud in Ukraine in the past. Police who have said that his surname is Samuel and not Pereira have sought more details about him from Ukrainian embassy.

As per police sources, the reasons for his arrival in Bengaluru are still not clear. He has been remanded to judicial custody awaiting further details.