Police grill six Lankan Tamils for overstaying

CHENNAI: A city police team on routine checking of lodges detained six Sri Lankan Tamils after five of them were found to be overstaying.
The six - Prabhakaran (29), Gokul Raj (26), Dharmaraj (50), Bhageeradhan (35), Poovaragan (36) and Neerajan (34), all natives of Jaffna - were staying in a lodge at Thiruvateeswaranpet in Zam Bazaar, Triplicane. They were later released after being found innocent.
After the terror strike in Mumbai, security has been beefed up in the city. On Saturday, police conducted routine checks at all lodges and mansions.
Verification of the Lankan passports revealed that they were overstaying. It was then that the police alerted the Q-branch police. The city police as well as the Q-branch police interrogated the Lankans for more than 12 hours.
���As the Lankan Tamils were found to be innocent, no legal action was initiated against them. Five out of the six have been overstaying in Chennai and we have asked them to get their visas extended,��� a senior ���Q��� branch official said.
Zam Bazaar police have registered a case.