Chennai, Feb 15 (UNI) A Sri Lankan woman was arrested here today on charges of sheltering a Malaysian woman wanted by Mumbai police, who had escaped from Immigration officials at the airport here two days back.

Police sources said a special team had been sent to Tiruchirapalli where the Malaysian woman Alamelu Lakshmikanthan (42) was staying.

Quoting the initial probe, police said Alamelu was planning to flee to Malaysia via Mumbai.

Investigations revealed that a woman entrepreneur Agnes Jayamurthy, a Lankan national, had given shelter to the Malaysian woman. It was also found that Agnes had been staying in the city without valid documents.

During the interrogation of the Lankan woman, it was found that the Malaysian woman had gone into hiding in Tiruchi.

Alamelu, wanted by the Mumbai police for the last two years, was detained by Immigration authorities at the International airport here, only to slip out from their custody.

The Mumbai police had alerted the immigration authorities in all the airports to prevent her from fleeing the country.

When she came to board a Malaysian Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur two days back, immigration authorities and detained her.

They also informed the Mumbai police, who in turn asked them to hand her over to the Airport police. A special team from Mumbai would take her into custody after obtaining transit remand.

As the immigration authorities allegedly delayed the process of handing her over to the airport police, the woman hoodwinked the authorities and escaped.

UNI GV VV VD RK1836