Velupillai Prabhakaran, was leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Supposedly, he was killed by the Sri Lankan army in May 2009.
However, he is in the news again after Tamil nationalist leader Pazha Nedumaran, claimed on February 13, 2023, that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
Velupillai Prabhakaran is still alive and will be back soon.
LTTE is a militant organization which fought the liberation of the Sri Lankan Tamils. They wanted to establish an independent Tamil state in the North and East of Sri Lanka. They waged a war against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.
Velupillai Prabhakaran
Velupillai Prabhakaran was born in the northern coastal town of Valvettithurai on 26 November 1954. He is the youngest of four children born to Thiruvenkadam Velupillai and his wife Vallipuram Parvathy.
Ironically, Thiruvenkadam Velupillai worked for the Ceylon Government as a District Land Officer. He hailed from a powerful and rich family that owned and ran the major Hindu temples in Valvettithurai.
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
According to various sources, Prabhakaran did not like the intervention of then Indian Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi. As the atrocities of the LTTE increased, Rajiv Gandhi sent Indian peace keeping force to Sri Lanka. He obliged the request of the leaders neighboring country.
Apparently, Prabhakaran took a personal grudge of the former Prime Minister and plotted the assassination. It is alleged that Prabhakaran was the mastermind of the deadly attack which was carried out by a LTTE suicide bomber in 1991 in Chennai.
Killed by Sri Lankan government
However, in May 2009, it was announced by Sri Lankan government that LTTE chief Prabhakaran was killed in a military operation. Days after Prabhakaran’s death, a Sri Lankan military spokesman had said that the government had carried out DNA tests of the bodies of LTTE chief Prabhakaran and his son and the DNAs have matched.
Meanwhile the Sri Lankan Defence ministry dismissed the claim that Prabhakaran is still alive as a “joke”. They are referring to the DNA proof to assert Prabhakaran was killed way back in 2009.
