K. Dharmarajah (? - Oct 10, 1987), known by his nom de guerre Pulendran or Lt. Colonel Pulendran was one of early members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka. At the time of his death by suicide, he was the military commander for the rebels in the Trincomalee district in the east of the island nation. He was apprehended while leading a group of 17 rebel members, refugees and exiled Tamil political leaders from India to Sri Lanka in mid-sea by the Sri Lankan Navy. Sri Lankan Navy claimed that the tip-off came from the Indians. They were brought to Sri Lankan Army base in Palali.The Sri Lankan government claimed that Pulendran was responsible for the massacre of Sinhalese civilians in Habarana. When the Army attempted to take them to Colombo for interrogation , Pulendran, Kumarappa and 10 others committed suicide by swallowing cyanide. This incident happened two months after the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) arrived in the northeast of Sri Lanka under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. Indians had attempted to prevent the airlift of rebels from the Jaffna peninsula to Colombo under pressure from the LTTE, but failed. Mass suicide of the rebels was considered to be turning point in relationship between Indian and the rebels and it led to full scale hostilities to breakout between the IPKF and the LTTE.
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