Notorious underworld gangster Mohamed Najim Mohamed Imran alias ‘Kanjipani’ Imran fled to  Rameswaram in India’s Tamil Nadu State after he was released on bail by a court in Sri Lanka, the Hindu Newspaper reported.

Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu intelligence has sounded an alert to senior police officers across the  State to mount vigil along the coastal districts and look for him and his associate who landed along the Ramanathapuram district coast on December 25, 2022.

It further was reported that  Tamil Nadu State intelligence had specific input from central intelligence agencies and reliable sources that Imran was planning to enter India after his release on bail. According to sources, he left the court in disguise and moved to Thalaimannar from where his associates were making arrangements for his infiltration into India. Though there is no formal communication from Sri Lanka,   an officer who did not want to be quoted told the Hindu that India’s intelligence agencies had received credible input on his movement and issued the alert.

Imran, wanted by the Sri Lankan authorities for various offenses, including murders and criminal intimidation, was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and deported to the Island Nation. He was in judicial custody till a local court granted him bail on payment of two sureties, each Rs.5 million.

The report pointed out that the entry of Imran into Tamil Nadu gains significance in the backdrop of the National Investigation Agency exposing an international drug cartel involving Sri Lankan nationals operating from the Special Camp in Tiruchi that houses foreign nationals facing criminal charges.