Karthic Manoharan, son of Prabhakaran's elder brother Velupillai Manoharan, told IANS that a "mafia gang" that wants to use Prabhakaran as a "brand" and raise funds from Tamils living across the world is operating on a large scale.
V. Prabhakaran was killed during the final stages of Sri Lanka's bloody 26-year war against the LTTE, which was crushed by Sri Lankan security forces in May 2009.
"Give due respect to the dead. Not a penny given to the gang of fraudsters, who had been claiming that Prabhakran is alive, will go to the family or the poor and suffering Tamils in war-torn Sri Lanka, and instead it will end in their pockets," said Karthic, 43-year-old nephew of the late LTTE supreme leader.
Karthic termed the alleged fraudsters as "liars" and named some Indian Tamil leaders and Lankan-born Tamil Eelam activists for carrying out a campaign to resurrect his dead uncle Prabhakaran and his only daughter Dwaraka Prabhakaran.
Manoharan's family has kept an extremely low profile since they left Sri Lanka in 1983. They finally broke their silence after some diaspora groups in Switzerland staged fake drama with an AI-manipulated video speech by Dwaraka Prabhakaran on 'Maaveerar Naal' or 'Great Heroes'. Day' on November 27, 2023.
"We need to put an end to this nonsense. My uncle and his entire family died during the latter stages of the war. This had been confirmed and if any of them were alive they would have contacted us because we were all quite close and used to call us from Sri Lanka," said the nephew.
He added that the last conversation his family had with Prabhakaran was in 2008, a year before the war ended.
"My uncle, in what turned out to be his last call, said the situation was really bad in Sri Lanka," Karthic said.
Prabhakaran's parents were brought to India by Karthic's father Manoharan in 1983 along with the rest of the family after ethnic war broke out in Sri Lanka, with the military searching for the LTTE leader.
The family lived in Tamil Nadu for 13 years until 1998 and then migrated to Denmark through a UN agency.
"My father was planning to start a business in India, but then Rajiv Gandhi's assassination happened and my uncle was the suspect. So, my father was asked to leave India," the Tamil rebel leader's nephew told IANS.
The family subsequently approached UNHCR and moved to the Scandinavian country in 1996, where he was the first to accept his request.
However, Karthic said that because the family was related to the LTTE leader, they received "mistreatment" by some diaspora groups in Denmark who had been accumulating money in the name of the rebel movement.
"Having traveled from India, we were also branded as RAW agents," said Karthic, who expressed gratitude to the Indian government for allowing the family to stay in the country for more than a decade.
Karthic initially believed that his grandparents were also killed during the final days of the war in May 2009. The family later learned that they were alive and had been kept in a military camp until his grandfather's death was announced in 2010. Prabhakaran's mother also died later.
One of Karthic's aunts (Prabhakaran's sister) still lives in India with her family while another resides in Canada.
However, she said, the extended family is still unable to reunite or travel due to many visa issues and fear of not being able to return.
V. Prabhakaran was killed during the final stages of Sri Lanka's bloody 26-year war against the LTTE, which was crushed by Sri Lankan security forces in May 2009.
"Give due respect to the dead. Not a penny given to the gang of fraudsters, who had been claiming that Prabhakran is alive, will go to the family or the poor and suffering Tamils in war-torn Sri Lanka, and instead it will end in their pockets," said Karthic, 43-year-old nephew of the late LTTE supreme leader.
Karthic termed the alleged fraudsters as "liars" and named some Indian Tamil leaders and Lankan-born Tamil Eelam activists for carrying out a campaign to resurrect his dead uncle Prabhakaran and his only daughter Dwaraka Prabhakaran.
Manoharan's family has kept an extremely low profile since they left Sri Lanka in 1983. They finally broke their silence after some diaspora groups in Switzerland staged fake drama with an AI-manipulated video speech by Dwaraka Prabhakaran on 'Maaveerar Naal' or 'Great Heroes'. Day' on November 27, 2023.
"We need to put an end to this nonsense. My uncle and his entire family died during the latter stages of the war. This had been confirmed and if any of them were alive they would have contacted us because we were all quite close and used to call us from Sri Lanka," said the nephew.
He added that the last conversation his family had with Prabhakaran was in 2008, a year before the war ended.
"My uncle, in what turned out to be his last call, said the situation was really bad in Sri Lanka," Karthic said.
Prabhakaran's parents were brought to India by Karthic's father Manoharan in 1983 along with the rest of the family after ethnic war broke out in Sri Lanka, with the military searching for the LTTE leader.
The family lived in Tamil Nadu for 13 years until 1998 and then migrated to Denmark through a UN agency.
"My father was planning to start a business in India, but then Rajiv Gandhi's assassination happened and my uncle was the suspect. So, my father was asked to leave India," the Tamil rebel leader's nephew told IANS.
The family subsequently approached UNHCR and moved to the Scandinavian country in 1996, where he was the first to accept his request.
However, Karthic said that because the family was related to the LTTE leader, they received "mistreatment" by some diaspora groups in Denmark who had been accumulating money in the name of the rebel movement.
"Having traveled from India, we were also branded as RAW agents," said Karthic, who expressed gratitude to the Indian government for allowing the family to stay in the country for more than a decade.
Karthic initially believed that his grandparents were also killed during the final days of the war in May 2009. The family later learned that they were alive and had been kept in a military camp until his grandfather's death was announced in 2010. Prabhakaran's mother also died later.
One of Karthic's aunts (Prabhakaran's sister) still lives in India with her family while another resides in Canada.
However, she said, the extended family is still unable to reunite or travel due to many visa issues and fear of not being able to return.
