The new police chief in Puducherry, Praveer Ranjan, IGP, has told The Hindu that he was awaiting some information from Australia on the illegal trafficking of Sri Lankan refugees to Australia from Puducherry.

Speaking at a press conference, Ranjan has said “speculations were in circulation about the asylum-seekers getting away in a boat from Puducherry shores, but no one, including the Indian police, has authentic information yet on how the operation was carried out in such clandestine fashion.”

Ranjan  said that the police had now received some information through government channels.

He told media that the police registered a case as the particular boat in which the people are supposed to have travelled belongs to Puducherry. But most of the people were residing in those camps which are outside the jurisdiction of Puducherry.

The Police chief also said that the police arrested the boat owners under the offense of illegal human trafficking.

The situation arose as 157 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers got arrested near Cocos Islands by the Australian border patrol. After initial investigations, it was deduced that a majority of the asylum seekers were Indian.  (With inputs from The Hindu)