Fourteen Sri Lankan nationals held here in connection with the human trafficking case boarded the flight to Colombo from the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Saturday morning, as part of the deportation under the Foreigners Act.
Another Sri Lankan, included among those to be deported, could not board the flight owing to an issue over the passport. The Kollam District Collector had issued orders to deport 15 Sri Lankan nationals of Tamil origin.
All 15 were acquitted from the case as victims by the Kollam First Class Magistrate Court II on August 18.
Fourteen of them were lodged in Gandhi Bhavan, Pathanapuram, while a woman identified as Muthumala was staying in a private lodge.
She was out on bail after the court acquitted her and was not under the protection of the district administration. Sakthikulangara SI Rupesh Raj said that one of the Sri Lankans, identified as Kanakaselvam, could not travel back as he had not retrieved his passport, which was surrendered in the court.
The SI said that the issue arose due to a communication gap. “Kanakaselvam had surrendered his passport in the court along with a bail petition but while carrying out the procedures for deportation, he informed the police that he did not have a passport. On the other hand, he told the Sri Lankan High Commission that he possessed a passport. The issue surfaced only when we reached the airport,” he said.
“It is expected that Kanakasevalam will be able to return within a couple of days and his passport has been retrieved from the court,” he said. Meanwhile, another Sri Lankan national Muttiah Danapalasingham, arrested on April 28, is also expected to return home in connection with case from the Kollam Coast.
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