Prabhakaran’s ‘cousin’ in Kerala is wary of media

“Janaki Amma?” we asked from the doorsteps. “I don’t know,” said Janaki Amma, busy in her kitchen. Her husband Parameswaran Pillai is equally irritated: “Almost a dozen people came here. And they didn’t write what we said.”

While Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabhakaran fights a losing battle in Sri Lanka, his alleged cousin is ambushed by reporters and camera crews at her small house at Decent Junction in Kerala’s Kollam district. Janaki, 77, believes her uncle Velupillai, who left for then Ceylon years ago, is the Velupillai who fathered the dreaded guerrilla Prabhakaran, wanted in India and abroad.

“My [maternal] uncle went to Ceylon when I was 12. He came home a few times after that. The last time he came was 48 years ago, when my aunt – his sister – had died. He said he had a son,” Janaki said. The couple has an old letter — from R Velupillai, Velupillai Stores, 224/KKS Road, Jaffna — as evidence. It came in 1953, a year before the would-be guerrilla was born.

Though very little is reported about Prabhakaran’s family, they lived in the coastal hamlet of Velvettithurai near Jaffna when their son formed the band of ‘Tigers’ in 1972. Velupillai was a land officer serving the Lankan government. But Janaki’s uncle is said to be a trader or a farmer.

Velupillai Prabhakaran’s local lineage is folklore in this locality, mostly comprising Chetti Pillais who believe their ancestors came to Kollam from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu.

“Velupillai lived here. If you ask for proof… have you seen Krishna, who killed Kamsa or Rama who went to Lanka and killed Ravana? Still you believe the stories, don’t you?” said Chandran Pillai, a pan shop owner.

Even Janaki doesn’t know how she became famous. She witnessed a newfound interest in her uncle’s story when Rajiv Gandhi was killed by LTTE suicide bombers in 1991. A few stories sprang up in local media. Now, the aged couple is haunted by intruding mikes and lenses routinely.