The predicament of the Sri Lankan who tried to flee to the UK with a ticket from the Bangalore Airport washroom

A British national has been arrested for attempting to illegally send a Sri Lankan abroad by secretly handing over a boarding pass for a flight to the United Kingdom at Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore, inside a toilet. This incident was reported on January 18, and the British national involved is currently in Indian police custody, while the Sri Lankan who falsely traveled to London has been detained by authorities in that country.

Kandaiya Rajagopal, a 52-year-old businessman residing in West London, handed over his airline boarding pass to Sharusan Kunasegaran, a Sri Lankan, because the latter did not possess a legal visa to enter the country. Kandaiya, who was in India on a tourist visa, had booked a Virgin Atlantic flight ticket to London, while Sharusan had an IndiGo flight ticket to Singapore. Investigations revealed that after airport security checks, they met in a terminal toilet and exchanged their boarding passes.

Although Sharusan departed for London using Kandaiya's boarding pass, Kandaiya's suspicious presence at the airport premises for nearly eight hours caught the attention of the Central Industrial Security Force. During questioning by immigration officials and verification of information through the airline, it was revealed that someone else had traveled in Kandaiya's seat. He admitted to the police that he had planned to help Sharusan go to London and then booked a ticket to return to Sri Lanka.

Acting on information provided by Indian authorities, UK officials detained Sharusan immediately upon his arrival in the country and are in the process of deporting him back to Sri Lanka. Kandaiya, who has been living in London for 30 years, also stated that he was injured in a shooting in Trincomalee in 2012, and proceedings have been initiated to prosecute him under the 2025 Immigration and Aliens Act. He is currently held in judicial custody at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison by court order.