Family of Slain LTTE Leader Warns Tamils Against Major Scam Exploiting Prabhakaran’s Name

Major Scam Alert: Family of Slain LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran Urges Tamils to Avoid Diaspora Fraud

The extended family of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the slain leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has issued a strong warning to Tamils in India and around the world. They are urging everyone not to fall prey to a major scam orchestrated by certain elements within the diaspora community, who are fraudulently collecting millions of dollars by falsely claiming that Prabhakaran is still alive.

Karthic Manoharan, son of Prabhakaran’s elder brother Velupillai Manoharan, spoke out against the fraudulent activities, describing the perpetrators as a “mafia gang” exploiting Prabhakaran’s name to solicit funds from Tamils globally. Prabhakaran was killed in May 2009 during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s protracted 26-year civil war.

“Give due respect to the dead. Not a penny given to the gang of fraudsters, who have been claiming that Prabhakaran is alive, will go to the family or the poor and suffering Tamils in war-ravaged Sri Lanka, and instead ends up in their pockets,” Karthic, 43, stated firmly.

He further identified several Indian Tamil leaders and Tamil Eelam campaigners born in Sri Lanka, accusing them of orchestrating a deceitful campaign to resurrect his uncle’s image and that of his only daughter, Dwaraka Prabhakaran. This campaign reached a peak with an AI-manipulated video of Dwaraka Prabhakaran during the ‘Maaveerar Naal’ or ‘Great Heroes Day’ on November 27, 2023.

Karthic emphasized the need to end the misinformation, confirming that his uncle and the entire family perished during the war’s closing stages. He revealed that their final conversation with Prabhakaran occurred in 2008, a year before the conflict concluded, where Prabhakaran described the dire situation in Sri Lanka.

Following the outbreak of the ethnic war in 1983, Prabhakaran’s parents, along with Karthic’s family, were relocated to India by his father, Manoharan. They lived in Tamil Nadu for 13 years before moving to Denmark in 1998 through a UN agency after being asked to leave India post-Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, for which Prabhakaran was a suspect.

Despite receiving ill-treatment from certain diaspora groups in Denmark due to their LTTE connections, the family has continued to denounce the fraudulent activities exploiting Prabhakaran’s legacy. Karthic expressed gratitude to the Indian government for their decade-long asylum.

Karthic clarified that, initially, they believed his grandparents were also killed in May 2009, but later discovered they had been detained in an army camp until his grandfather’s death in 2010. Prabhakaran’s mother also passed away later. Karthic mentioned that one of his aunts remains in India while another resides in Canada, highlighting ongoing challenges related to travel and visas.

The family’s plea is a stark reminder to respect the deceased and avoid supporting fraudulent schemes that exploit the legacy of Prabhakaran and the plight of war-affected Tamils.